The Six Paths of Creation
by HistorianoftheKais
Summary: When one deals with the elements there is the productive cycle and the destructive cycle. For the Rinnigan, these duel cycles are brought into the ultimate conflict. The forces of creation and the forces of destruction wage their war across the land.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I haven't purchased stock in Kishimoto's publishing company. This should be obvious to anyone with a ability to type in the website's name. I repeat, I don't own Naruto. This message will not be repeated again.

Naruto stared up at Sasuke unable to believe that the jerk and taken those senbon needles for him. In a shocked, quiet voice Naruto softly said, "Why? I didn't ask you to protect me."

Sasuke fell on his knees next to Naruto and hoarsely whispered, "I can't believe that I'd die to protect you loser. My brother, I never got to kill him for what he did to my family." With that, Sasuke closed his eyes and apparently died in front of Naruto.

This sight shocked Naruto to his core. He just couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that Sasuke could be day. Ever since Naruto had first met Sasuke in the academy he had disliked the other boy. It was always Sasuke who everyone praised, it was always Sasuke who everyone wanted to be friends with, and it was Sasuke that the teachers would always help out. Meanwhile, he was always ignored, he was the one no one wanted to be around, and he was the one that most of the instructors would dismiss as a hopeless case. And yet, Sasuke was the closest thing Naruto had to a friend. The thought of Sasuke dying to save him was just too much for Naruto to bear.

Naruto threw back his head and let out a primal scream of agony and loss. He poured his whole heart and soul into grief cry when suddenly, something within the young boy snapped. A tremendous desire to kill filled Naruto and drove out all rational thought within him. The blond ninja quickly snapped his head back and opened his eyes to look at Haku. Instead of there usual blue, Naruto's eyes were now solid grey with three black rings around his pupils.

Haku unconsciously took a step backwards when he saw Naruto's eyes. It was obvious that Naruto had just unlocked a bloodline. However, Zabuza's apprentice didn't have a clue as to what Naruto's bloodline was or what it did. At least with Sasuke's Sharingain Haku knew what to expect. That bloodline's abilities were known by ninjas everywhere. What Naruto was going to do, or could do, were simply impossible for Haku to predict.

Without warning, Naruto charged bare fisted at Haku. If things had been normal Haku would have been able to doge Naruto's attacks. However, shock of an unknown bloodline limit suddenly appearing and the hateful look on Naruto's face froze Haku in his tracks. Naruto's fists quickly connected with Haku's body and started beating the boy like a punching bag. One of Naruto's punches landed squarely on the hunter's mask and shattered it.

The sight of Haku's face with his bloody lips immediately froze Naruto as his sanity returned. "It's you," Naruto whispered as he tried to come to grips with the situation. "You're the one who was picking herbs before. Why, why are you doing this?"

Haku looked up at Naruto and softly replied, "Zabuza is my precious person. He saved me and took me in. I would do anything I can to help him. I am his tool. However, I failed him because I couldn't kill my heart." Before Naruto could ask Haku what he meant by that, everyone heard the sound of chirping birds. The ice user looked up at Naruto and said, "Goodbye Naruto. Maybe in another life we could have been friends." Haku then created an ice mirror and jumped into it.

Naruto was completely baffled by Haku's actions for a second and then realization dawned on him. The former blue eyed boy whipped his head over to where Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting and saw Haku take a hit in the chest for Zabuza. Naruto watched in shock as Kakashi removed his hand from Haku's chest and the ice user collapsed onto the bridge. Why was this happening? Why were the people that he was closest to getting hurt? Why wasn't there something, anything he could do to help Haku?

Several feet away from Naruto, Sakura was desperately looking into the fog trying to see what was going on. At first Sakura could only see that someone was standing and that someone was lying on the ground. Her heart immediately broke when she saw that the figure standing had blond hair. Why wasn't Sasuke up? Suddenly, a blue spectral figure leaped out of Naruto and flew over to Haku. The only question on Sakura's mind was what was going on?

* * *

"What the hell? Where am I?!" Naruto didn't care about his language as he tried to figure out what was going on. One moment he was the bridge and then the next moment he was in this strange cavern that was full of white smoke. This whole experience didn't make any sense to Naruto. His eyes then light up as he remembered Iruka's academy lectures on genjutsus. Obviously, this cavern had to be a genjutsu. Now, if only Naruto could remember how to dispel genjutsus.

As Naruto was trying to remember, a shadowy figure stepped out of the mist. Naruto couldn't see anything about the person except for his outline and his eyes. It was the figures eyes that really grabbed Naruto's attention. They were solid grey with black circles. With false bravado, Naruto shouted out, "Who do you think you are? End this genjutsu now!"

The phantom figure let out a harsh chuckle and then said, "You've got guts kid I'll give you that. However, you're in no position to be making demands, so just shut up and listen! I'm only going to tell you these things once and after that you'll be on your own. You're lucky that Buddha owes me one or otherwise you'd be left out in the cold."

"Now then," the figure continued on, "I don't care who you are or what you're called. All that matters is that you are, as unbelievable as it is my heir. I am the Rokudou Sennin, the person who discovered how to use chakra in ninjutsu and the guy who you ninjas consider to be the first shinobi. A few minutes ago, you activated my bloodline limit the Rinnigan. If you start jumping up and down like a moron over this I will leave you here high and dry." That stopped any outburst from Naruto over the news that he had a bloodline.

The Rokudou Sennin then moved closer to Naruto so that they were staring strait into each other's eyes While still shrouded, he said, "My bloodline has two versions: the wheel of creation and the wheel of destruction. Both versions are almost indistinguishable from each other in what there abilities and there is no way for someone to tell which wheel a person possesses. The wheel of creation focuses on the transmigration aspects of the Rinnigan, while the wheel of destruction focuses on the external aspects of the Rinnigan. Neither wheel will be able to completely match the other in the control of certain aspects. The thing that decides which wheel you possess is what you do when you first awaken your bloodline. If you're able to control your rage without killing whoever caused you to awaken then you've got the wheel of creation. If you kill the person, then you've got the wheel of destruction. Just in case you haven't caught on yet, that means that you've got the wheel of creation version of the Rinnigan."

Naruto nodded his head paying attention to everything that the Rokudou Sennin was saying. He then looked and his ancestor and asked, "Okay, I get that I've got this wheel of creation version of the Rinnigan. However, what do you mean by transmigration verses external?"

A small, harsh chuckle came from the Rokudou Sennin's shade and then he answered Naruto. "At least you're asking reasonable questions brat. The transmigration of our bloodline means that you'll be able to gain extra bodies and control them. You can have a max of six total bodies, one for each realm. The bodies assigned to a realm will receive special abilities for their realm. Also, you'll have all the sensory data that your bodies collect. Unlike someone with the wheel of destruction, you'll be able to assimilate living bodies near death. This means that you'll have to put up with the minds of the original people you assimilate talking to you in the back of you head. But, it also means that you'll be able to fully wield those people's abilities and you won't have to constantly be sending your chakra to keep the bodies alive. I'm not about to explain the external aspects since you can find out about those in the legends about me. Besides, it will take you a long time to just master transmigration."

Naruto wasn't quite sure what to make of his bloodline. On the one hand, it seemed to be very powerful. But on the other hand, taking over other people's bodies was pretty creepy. In a low voice Naruto asked, "How do I assimilate someone?"

Instantly the Rokudou Sennin broke out laughing and said, "It's all natural kid. In fact, you've already assimilated that other brat you were fighting when you activated your bloodline. As soon as I leave you'll absorb everything the other brat knows and you'll instinctively assign the realms. Just a friendly notice, the first time you assimilate someone you get a headache that hurts like a bitch."

As soon as the Rokudou Sennin said that, he vanished into the mists. Naruto was immediately assaulted by Haku's memories. He relieved every moment of Haku's life from the moment of the ice user's birth to the present. The Rokudou Sennin hadn't been lying because the process was extremely painful. Once it was all over Naruto had a better idea of just who and what he now was.

* * *

Back in the real world, Kakashi and Zabuza were staring at Haku's unconscious form. Their attention was drawn to the boy's chidori wound which was healing at an inhuman rate. This impossible sight was shocking enough that it freaked out the two highly trained ninjas.

Suddenly, this interlude was interrupted by the arrival of Gato and his mercenary forces. The crime lord sneered and said, "Some demon. You couldn't even take care of these ninjas. Well, at least you've weakened them for my men. Take care of them men and whoever brings me Zabuza's head gets first pick of the village women."

Kakashi turned to his former enemy and calmly said, "Well it looks you're out of a contract Zabuza. Want to help me out?" As an experienced ninja, Kakashi was very familiar with the idea of an enemy becoming an ally and vice versa very quickly. Zabuza was also familiar with this concept and quickly nodded his head. The two jonins were slipping into defensive stances when their senses alerted them to a strange chakra filling the area. Even the mercenaries, who had never been trained to detect chakra, could tell that something was about to happen.

Naruto and Haku both stood up when this chakra reached its peak and they opened their eyes revealing the Rinnigan. Naruto started walking towards Kakashi and Zabuza while looking at the mass of mercenaries. In a voice filled with cold rage Naruto called out. "I am Naruto of the Deva Realm." Haku immediately followed Deva Naruto by saying, "I am Naruto of the Hell Realm. Both Deva Naruto and Hell Naruto then shouted out, "Leave this place or face our wrath!"

Unfortunately for the mercenaries, they had no clue about what they were facing. One of the mercenaries even laughed and shouted out, "Hey what do you freaks think you going to be able to do? Creep us to death?"

This was definitely the wrong thing to say and Deva Naruto's eyes narrowed. He then raised his right hand and said, "You've sealed your fates DIVINE JUDGEMENT!" Instantly the gravitational wave shot out from Naruto and raced towards the mercenaries. The attack quickly caught the mercenaries and knocked them down. Many of the thugs were actually sent into the air from the force of the attack. Unfortunately, that one attack used up almost all of the chakra reserves in Naruto's Deva body. Naruto made a mental note to start seriously training his Deva body in the various chakra control exercises that he had absorbed from Haku.

Since his Deva body couldn't continue on, Naruto decided to attack with his Hell body. Hell Naruto quickly performed the handsigns for the demonic ice mirrors. One mirror formed in front of Hell Naruto and another formed in front of Gato. As soon as the mirrors formed, the ice wielding body jump into the mirror and appeared in front of Gato. He then lifted the crime lord off the ground and said, "Why have you caused all of this suffering?"

Gato's attention wasn't on the young man questioning him. Rather, it was on the horrible spectral form that had suddenly appeared behind Naruto with the kanji for king on its forehead. That hellish creature scared Gato to his core as it seemed to convey the message that he'd better answer Naruto. In a nervous voice Gato answered. "I, I did it for the money! I wanted to be rich. That's more important than a few measly villagers who never would have amounted to much anyway."

That was the worst possible thing Gato could have said to Naruto. Both Naruto's and Haku's lives had been extremely difficult due to circumstances beyond their control. The combined experiences had made Naruto very protective of those who were down on their luck. Hearing Gato so casually dismiss the people of Wave's suffering pushed Naruto's rage over the edge. In a cold voice, Hell Naruto whispered to Gato, "You have been judged and found lacking." The phantom figured behind Naruto opened its monstrous mouth. Gato's soul was then forced out his body and devoured by the hell summon.

Naruto dropped Gato's lifeless body and looked at the terrified mercenaries before him. There was almost no way he could beat them all at moment since both of his bodies had used up all of their chakra. Still, that didn't mean that the mercenaries would know that they could be him. Naruto had his hell body muster as much hatred and killing intent as he could and then shouted out at the mercenaries. "I'll give you this one chance to live: leave and never return to Wave. If you do not accept my gift I will cast all of your souls into hell like just did to Gato."

Mercenaries typically were the scum of the earth. Many would kill, rape, and pillage without a second thought. However, these lowlifes possessed a keen survival instinct and right now it was screaming at them to get out of doge. As soon as Naruto mentioned sending their souls to hell the bandits ran away.

Kakashi, Zabuza, Sakura, and Tanzuna looked on at the scene in shock. What they had just witnessed didn't make any sense to them. Haku had been dying before he had suddenly started healing. What did Naruto and Haku mean by Naruto of the Deva Realm and Naruto of the Hell Realm? Both Kakashi and Zabuza knew that those phrases meant something important. However, neither of them could remember what was so significant about those words. Zabuza looked at Hell Naruto and asked, "Haku, what's going on?"

Deva Naruto quickly spoke up. "Haku, at least as you knew him Zabuza doesn't exist anymore. He was dying from Kakashi's chidori." Hell Naruto then took over, "The Rinnigan allows me to fuse with dying warriors. All that Haku was or ever will be is now apart of me." Switching back to his Deva body, Naruto continued on. "Haku's soul now rests within me granting him life as long as I live. Unfortunately, I don't have enough skill with my bloodline to allow his spirit to come forth yet, if I'll ever be able to do so." Hell Naruto then finished things off. "I just want you to know Zabuza, Haku loved you like a son."

Tears started to well up in Zabuza as he listened to Naruto talk. Despite his usual actions, the Demon of the Mist had loved Haku as if the boy was his son. Seeing Haku's body with the Rinnigan was just too much for the fearsome man to take. At the same time, Kakashi's hairs went on end as he gazed at both of Naruto's bodies. Minato had told Kakashi and the rest of his genin team about the fabled Rinnigan. The Yondaime had even claimed that Jiraiya had even seen the illusive bloodline. At the time, Kakashi had dismissed Minato's tales as campfire stories to amuse Obito and Rin. However, now he was staring at direct proof that the bloodline existed. One thing was for sure, things were never going to be the same for Team 7 ever again.

* * *

An hour later Team 7 and Tazuna were back at the bridge builder's house. Zabuza hadn't stuck around for long claiming that it was just too painful seeing Haku's body and knowing that Haku wasn't there. Sakura had been confused about why Kakashi had simply let Zabuza leave until he explained that there wasn't any reason for them to fight the missing ninja.

Sasuke's awakening had been interesting. Naruto had been carrying the boy back to the house with his Deva body when Haku's attack wore off. The Uchiha had taken one look at Hell Naruto and imminently tried to attack him. Kakashi had quickly stepped in and ordered Sasuke to stand down until the situation could be explained.

Once every one was inside, Sakura looked at the two Naruto bodies and then at Kakashi. In a nervous and curious tone she asked, "Uh Kakashi? What's going on with Naruto and why are he and that other boy both claiming to be Naruto?"

Kakashi sighed and said, "It appears that Naruto has awakened the Rinnigan bloodline. This bloodline was said to have first been wielded by the Rokudou Sennin, the first shinobi. I never paid much attention to the legends surrounding the Rokudou Sennin or the Rinnigan since I thought they were just myths. Obviously, that's not the case. According to what my sensei told me, one of the powers of the Rinnigan was the ability to migrate the soul through different incarnations. I think that means that Naruto can possess different bodies. Any comments Naruto?"

Deva Naruto nodded his head and replied, "Pretty close Kakashi. However, I didn't really possess Haku so much as I absorbed who he was. I've got all of his memory, skills, and experience. However, I still have to learn how to fully use everything I learned from him. Also, I need to train my original body in chakra control and get use to the double senses. I know which body is sensing what, but it is a bit of a headache."

Sasuke snorted and then said, "Why don't you go back to a single body dobe? You're less annoying that way." The young avenger was a little peeved to see Haku's body walking around knowing that Naruto was in control.

Hell Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke and said, "Get real Sasuke! You're just jealous that I'm now twice the man you'll ever be!"

Sakura immediately slugged Deva Naruto and shouted out, "Stop that Naruto! Sasuke had a very important point. Is there any way for you to dispel one of your bodies like you did with your shadow clones?"

Both of Naruto's bodies got a far away look as he thought about what Sakura had asked. Everyone looked on wanting to know what Naruto's answer would be. Suddenly, Hell Naruto bit his finger, placed it on the table, and shouted out, "Reverse Summoning: Return to the Bardo." A cloud of smoke covered Hell Naruto and when it cleared up the ice using body was gone. Deva Naruto grinned and shouted out, "All right! It worked."

Kakashi looked at Naruto with his eye smile and then said, "Interesting trick Naruto. As of this moment Naruto I'm giving you a special order. You are not to summon your other body unless I say so for training purposes until we get back to Konoha. Both of your bodies will get plenty of training, but I want to be cautious until a physician at the hospital can give you a complete physical. That means you can't do those new attacks you used on the bridge against Gato's men. Besides, we'll need to get your teammates used to the idea of you having multiple bodies."

Naruto looked at Kakashi and said, "But Kakashi! Wouldn't it be easier for Sakura and Sasuke if I had both bodies out at once?"

The copy cat jonin shook his head and said, "Naruto, having two of you out like that was bizarre even for me. Not that there's anything wrong with your bloodline, it's just something that we need to get used to. Since Tazuna is safe, we'll spend the rest of the mission here in training. Naruto, every day you are to switch which body will be training with the team and which one will be going through independent exercises. When we leave for Konoha you'll have to stick with your original body since your other body doesn't have an id."

Kakashi then turned to Sasuke and said, "You'll also have to train your bloodline Sasuke. Luckily for you, I know more about the Sharingan then I do about the Rinnigan. Remember that you've still got a long way to go before you'll truly be able to wield the Sharingan in battle. There is a major difference between being able to use bloodline abilities and mastering those abilities. You and Naruto are in the same boat in that regard."

Finally, Kakashi turned to Sakura and said, "Your training will be the easiest for me to oversee Sakura. Unless you pull a Naruto and suddenly activate a mythical bloodline." Sakura blushed at being the butt of Kakashi's little joke and quickly stated that she didn't have any bloodlines. After hearing that, Kakashi said, "Now I want all of you to take the rest of the day off and relax. We'll start training in the morning."

* * *

Over the next few days Kakashi put his team, especially Naruto and Sasuke, through the wringers. Just like Kakashi had promise, Sasuke and Sakura had to train with a different one of Naruto's bodies every day. By the end of the first week all the members of Team 7 had gotten used to Naruto's dual forms. For independent training, Naruto had his Deva body work on charka control and practiced a few jutsus Haku known while the Hell body mostly stuck to refining what Haku had done. Even though Naruto knew everything Haku knew he still needed some practice with his Hell body to wield it all with the experience that Haku and used. Kakashi had compared Naruto's training to what a Sharingan wielder had to do after they copied a jutsu in order to use said jutsu effectively.

The mission ended about a week and a half after the fight on the bridge when the Great Naruto Bridge officially opened. Naruto had been smiling all the way home ever since he had found out about the bridge's name. Sasuke really couldn't care less about the bridge's name. Kakashi had found it slightly amusing that a genin had such a major landmark named after him. Sakura had been a bit annoyed that the bridge had been named after Naruto instead of after Sasuke. However, she knew that it had been Naruto who had insured that the bridge was built and that he, not Sasuke, had been the decisive element in the battle.

Team 7 had taken a week to walk back to Konoha and the village was just coming into view when Naruto suddenly stopped in his tracks. Sasuke turned towards Naruto and called out, "Hey Dobe. Why did you stop?" Even though Sasuke had kept calling Naruto 'dobe', he said it without the contempt that he used to put in it.

Without looking at his teammates, Naruto blurted out, "Can't you guys see it? There's a barrier or something all around the village!"

Kakashi instantly swung his head around to look at Naruto and he said, "Sasuke, Sakura. Go on ahead to the village gate and check us in. After you do that head to the hospital and tell them to have Naruto's doctor come in for a physical. The Rinnigan might be causing Naruto to see things. I'm going to give Naruto a quick check over to see whether he can make it to the hospital on his own or if he needs to be carried." Kakashi's tone told Sasuke and Sakura that this was non-negotiable and they quickly left to fulfill Kakashi's orders.

As soon as the duo was out of hearing range, Kakashi looked down at Naruto and said, "Do you really see a barrier around Konoha?" Naruto quickly nodded his head and was about to speak when Kakashi continued on. "Listen Naruto, you are never to speak of what you saw. That barrier is an S-class secret that is vital to our village defenses. Only the ANBU, the Hokage, and the senior members of the council know about it. Apparently, your Rinnigan allows you to see it, so you're going to keep your mouth shut and pretend that you were just seeing things from mental stress brought on by the Rinnigan."

Naruto nodded his head so fast it was like he was a bobble head doll. Holding an S-class secret of his own had taught Naruto the important of keeping secrets. After all, he would have just been a regular orphan as far the villagers where concerned if someone hadn't blabbed about the Kyuubi. There was no way that Naruto would let a secret this important be revealed; especially if it involved the village's security. Naruto looked up at Kakashi and said, "I promise I won't say a thing about the barrier."

Kakashi nodded his head and then replied, "Good Naruto. I know I can count on you to keep your word. Remember, its better to be thought a fool to save lives than it is to be proven right and get people killed." With that said, teacher and student started walking back to the village.

* * *

Sarutobi stood up on the roof of the Hokage tower staring out at Konoha. He had just come back from the hospital visiting Naruto during the boy's physical. The biggest shock for the old Hokage had been seeing the difference in Naruto's eyes. They made him seem older, wiser. It was as the innocence that had once filled Naruto's eyes had been ripped away. Oh the boy was still cheerful and full of energy. But, that energy and cheer was now restrained by a sense of self control and propriety that Naruto had absorbed from Haku. As wonderful as this new respectful Naruto was, Sarutobi would have preferred the old brash Naruto back.

No doubt half the village knew that Naruto had a bloodline by now. The village grapevine was almost painfully efficient win it came to spreading hot news, and a new bloodline was definitely hot news. Besides, anyone who looked Naruto in the eyes would instantly know that he had a doujutsu. Sarutobi was content with the fact that the Rinnigan's actual abilities were known to just a handful. He had no doubt that the public would go into a panic about a body snatching ninja if they found out about the Rinnigan's transmigration ability; especially when they found out that Naruto had the bloodline.

It wasn't the first time that Sarutobi had felt ashamed of Konoha's citizens. Most of the village's shinobi could tell the difference between Naruto and the Kyuubi, but precious few of the civilians could. How they could praise Minato with one breath and completely disregard his last request in the next was something that Sarutobi could never figure out. Even if Naruto hadn't been Minato's son Sarutobi would have been upset at the villagers' hypocrisy. At least the children were relatively untouched by their parents' blindness.

The old leader looked over to the mountain and stared and the Yondaime's image. Sarutobi then softly whispered, "I don't have a clue why the Rinnigan has appeared again or why your son has it Minato. I only pray that its activation means that good things are coming to Konoha instead of a disaster." Sarutobi didn't have to be superstitious to know that major changes were on the horizon. Each of Naruto's realms wielded incredible power in addition to those bodies' regular ninja abilities. Add in the fact that Naruto gained the knowledge of those he absorbed with the fact that he still had four more realms and you had the recipe for a very powerful ninja. What that power would be used for in the future was something that only the gods knew.

Author's Note: since the Rinnigan allows the user to control multiple bodies, I'll refer to the realm that the body represents when Naruto has more then one body present to avoid confusion.


	2. Chapter 2

Every night after Naruto finished training he would spend an hour or so meditating. Normally, Naruto wouldn't bother with such a skill and would focus on training. The reason for the young Rinnegan wielder's abrupt change of pace could be summed up in one word: Haku. Naruto knew that Haku's soul was within him somewhere and he wanted to reach the boy. Part of this was because of Naruto's desire to get Haku's approval for the use of the boy's body. Another reason was Naruto simply wanted someone to talk to who had gone through similar hardships.

About a week after returning to Konoha, Naruto finally made a breakthrough. While meditating on his bed, Naruto suddenly found himself back in the Bardo. A grin quickly appeared on the young man's face and he immediately began looking for Haku. Sadly for Naruto, he couldn't find the ice user. In desperation Naruto called out, "Hey Haku! Where are you? Please come out, I want to talk to you."

Suddenly a giggle echoed throughout the Bardo and Haku's disembodied voice replied, "Very well Naruto. However, it was fun seeing you run all over trying to find me." The young man then appeared through the mist. He looked exactly as Naruto remembered and he didn't have the Rinnegan. In a cheerful manner Haku then said, "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Naruto scratched his head and quickly replied, "Don't you know Haku? I mean, don't you have my memories to figure out what I want to talk to you about. Can't you hear and see everything that I hear and see?"

Haku shook his head and immediately answered. "That's not the way things work Naruto. You gain my memories, but I don't gain yours. I can see and here, but only what my original body sees and hears. Personally, I'm grateful because otherwise I would go mad trying to comprehend two sets of senses at once."

A small frown appeared on Naruto's face and he nervously said, "Are you disappointed with what I've been doing with your body?"

To Naruto's surprise, Haku pulled him into a hug and softly replied, "I'm not disappointed with what you've done in the least Naruto. Thanks to you, the people of Wave are free of Gato. I'm proud that I was able to help those people through you. As long as you never try to harm innocent people I'll always be proud to be a part of you."

That honest praise was worth more to Naruto than his weight in gold or ramen. Naruto also found Haku's hug to be very enjoyable since it was exactly what he had imagine a hug from a family member would be like. After the two ended the hug, Naruto said, "I'll try to come in here more often Haku so you don't get lonely."

Haku nodded his head and replied, "I would like that Naruto. But please, don't spend all your time in the Bardo. You need to live in the real world. I'll get more and more company as you gain more realms. Besides, the Bardo has a comforting feeling about it that makes it impossible for me to feel lonely. I like to think that this feeling is your bloodline's way of repaying me and the other realms for the use of our bodies." With that said, Naruto reluctantly left Haku alone in the Bardo.

* * *

Team 7 was at their new training ground waiting for Kakashi to show up. Sarutobi had assigned the team a new training ground two weeks ago that was isolated from most of the village so Naruto could practice his bloodline without someone stumbling upon the team. Currently, Deva Naruto was doing pushups on a nearby pond while Hell Naruto was sitting with Sakura and Sasuke reading a scroll.

Sakura looked at her two teammates and couldn't help feeling intimidated by them. It wasn't that either of them had threatened her. After all, her Sasuke would never do something like that and Naruto, as annoying as he could be, was too caught up in trying to get a date to threaten her. Rather, Sakura was intimidated by the fact that both her teammates had very powerful bloodlines. Sasuke could learn anything he wanted just by using the Sharingan and Naruto was hot on Sasuke's heels. Haku's memories seemed to have filled in all of the basics that Naruto was missing.

The fact that Naruto was advancing so fast now, made Sakura worry about her own worth on the team. She was ashamed to admit it, even to herself, but Naruto's poor skills had been a source of confidence for her. As long as Naruto was the 'dobe', she could take pride in her book smarts. However, book smarts really didn't cut it as the Wave mission had shown. Sakura had taken some of her pay from the Wave mission and had bought some weights, but she had a lot of trouble keeping up with the boys when it came to training.

Hell Naruto suddenly looked up from his scroll and said, "Hey Sakura. What to go out on a date after practice today?" It was a little strange for Sakura to hear Naruto say that and hear Haku's voice. However, she was getting used to it and quickly shot him down again without even batting an eye. Amazing how the little things like Naruto trying to get a date could make everything seem normal.

Instead of just taking the rejection, Hell Naruto continued on. "Are you sure Sakura? I'll use my Hell body. That way you'll have all of your friends wondering who the mysterious ninja you were dating is."

Sakura didn't want to admit it, but the thought of Ino and the other girls wanting to know about the mystery man she had dated was tempting. Even Inner Sakura had to admit that it would be fun to one up Ino like that. Besides, Naruto had become politer ever since he had merged with Haku. But before Sakura made her decision, she looked over at Sasuke and saw the frown on his face. She thought that the frown might be because of Naruto's offer and quickly said, "Not right now Naruto. Maybe I'll go out on a date with you in the future when you're more mature."

Hell Naruto started to sulk, but then he cheered up when he heard Sakura say that she might go out in the future. That was closer to a yes than he had ever gotten before. All he had to do was keep at it and eventually she would go out with him! Naruto was so happy that he had Deva Naruto do a series of back flips in celebration. Sakura saw Naruto's little stunt and could barely keep from laughing. Even with everything he had gone through, he could still act like a little kid.

Kakashi appeared in the clearing just as Deva Naruto finished his back flips. By now the one eyed jonin was used to Naruto's unique abilities and didn't bat an eye at the boy's two bodies. As soon as Kakashi gave his customary lame excuse he said, "Alright then. Sasuke, I want you and Hell Naruto to spar at the west end of the field. Remember, neither of you two is to use your bloodlines for the spar and that includes ice jutsus Naruto. Sakura and Deva Naruto are going to spar at the east end of the field. I'll be observing both fights and letting you guys know what to practice. After the spars, we'll go over some jutsus and then we'll get a mission."

The three students promptly got up and proceeded to do as they were instructed. Although Kakashi's nose was in his book, he was paying attention to both fights. Multitasking like this was something he had mastered long ago in order to get more time with his beloved Icha Icha. Sasuke and Hell Naruto were going through an excellent spar showing that they had the skills that good genin should have. Sakura and Deva Naruto's fight wasn't as spectacular. Kakashi knew that Naruto was holding back a bit, just a bit, so that Sakura could get the most of the spar.

Out of his three students, Naruto was the one who was always on Kakashi's mind the most. Sasuke was an impressive ninja and would go far. However, Kakashi knew that Sasuke needed to learn the value of friendship. Sakura was also turning out to be a decent kunoichi even though she had started out as a fangirl. But Naruto, now that boy was hard to quantify.

When Kakashi had first meet Naruto he figured that Naruto would become a great ninja someday in the future. Probably Naruto would never be as great as his father, but the boy did have the potential. At the time, Kakashi had figured it would take Naruto several years and a couple of major blows to bring out that potential. It was there, but Naruto's poor skills and his attitude had effectively buried that potential under solid granite. However, the Rinnegan had blasted through Naruto's barriers and the boy was now pulling out his potential years before the copy cat ninja had ever dreamed he would.

Sasuke's favorite part of training was whenever he got to fight Hell Naruto. The fact that Haku had so soundly beaten him had always left a sour taste in his mouth. In all honesty, Sasuke had quite sorted out his feelings about Naruto taking over the ice user's body. On the one hand, it was humorous to think that an enemy was now nothing more than a puppet to the dobe and it allowed him the chance to pound Haku's face every time he sparred with Naruto. However, Sasuke didn't like the fact that Naruto now possessed Haku's power. What if Naruto added Itachi's power to his own?

Naruto was having a great time with his dual spar. Not only did he get to spend time with Sakura and beat up Sasuke, but these spars helped him with his multitasking. Sure the Rinnegan allowed him work with several bodies at once. However, it took a certain level of skill to use both bodies simultaneously in a fight. Back in Wave, Naruto had focused on one body and then the other when he fought. At first Naruto had been annoyed that Kakashi had made him train with his bodies separately, but now Naruto was glad that Kakashi had.

The members of team 7 headed over to the Hokage tower after they finish their spars and had received their jutsus for the week from Kakashi. As the team headed to the tower, Naruto was busy observing the villagers' reactions to his presence. Many of the villagers had mellowed out a bit where he was concerned. It seemed that they thought a bloodline was a good counterbalance to holding a demon. Naruto was a little annoyed that they were thinking better of him just because he had a bloodline. The next largest group of villagers was those who just ignored Naruto. Finally, there was the small group who took great offense at 'the demon brat' having a bloodline.

Thanks to Haku's memories, Naruto knew that it would be almost impossible for him to win over those of the last group. They would always consider him to be a demon no matter what he did. However, Naruto wouldn't let that get to him and planed to win over the more reasonable villagers and the future generations. Those who couldn't get go of the past would be left in the past.

* * *

Sarutobi was sitting in his office waiting for Kakashi to show up. Since the Hokage had insisted that it was important, Kakashi showed up exactly when he had been told to. Kakashi bowed his head and respectfully said, "Why did you call for me sir?"

The old leader's face showed none of his usual grandfatherly cheer. Sarutobi was fully immersed in his 'God of Shinobi' persona that had made him so feared. In firm manner he started to speak. "Kakashi, I want you to teach Naruto the Rasengan."

Kakashi's eye brow rose and then he said, "Sir, why do you want me to teach Naruto that jutsu now? I was planning on teaching him the Rasengan once he made Chunin. It is, after all, his birthright, but that jutsu is too powerful for a genin."

Sarutobi sighed and then answered Kakashi. "You know as well as I do that out of all the genin who graduated last year Sasuke has the highest chance of being a flight risk. The boy's ego with his lack of attachment to the village will make so he'll be willing to leave if he doesn't get strong enough or advances as he feels he should. This problem has only been aggravated by the villagers' love affair with the Uchiha Myth that has developed after the massacre. If Sasuke does go missing, it will almost certainly be during a mission after you've been defeated by an enemy. At that point, Sakura and Naruto will be the only people available to stop Sasuke from defecting. Of those two, which do you think would have the best chance of stopping the boy?"

That was a no brainier. Take Kakashi out of the equation and the only member of Team 7 who could keep Sasuke under control was Naruto. Sakura wasn't mentally strong enough yet to lift her hand against Sasuke. Kakashi sighed and then inquired, "Why now sir? If you're this worried about a flight risk, why not keep Sasuke in the village?"

Sarutobi shook his head and then replied, "You know things aren't that simple Kakashi. Right now there is only a small chance that Sasuke will leave the village. The boy could very well grow to love the village and become one of its stronger defenders. We just don't know what the future will hold. However, I will not take the chance that Sasuke will become another Orochimaru. Naruto, as much as I wish it wasn't necessary, must be subtly taught to defeat and kill Sasuke if the boy goes rotten. You know that for ever strong or potentially strong ninja in the village there is another who has been trained with the skills needed to kill said ninja. There's even a squad of ANBU that have been trained to kill Naruto if the Kyuubi breaks free or the poor boy snaps. I hate myself for having to do this for someone I consider to be my grandson. Unfortunately, being Hokage means that I have to make these despicable decisions in order to protect everyone."

Kakashi shivered slightly when he heard the Hokage say that. Back when Kakashi had been in ANBU he had to deal with these kinds of things all the time. In fact, it was just these sorts of cloak and dagger shenanigans that had driven him out of the ANBU. Still, the copy cat couldn't deny that Sarutobi was correct. In a defeated tone he said, "All right sir, I'll teach Naruto the Rasengan."

Once Kakashi had agreed to that, Sarutobi's face softened and he said, "Just so you know Kakashi. I hope that Naruto never has to use the Rasengan against Sasuke. Tell Naruto to keep his Rasengan training quiet and that you're doing it for two reasons. One, the Yondaime had asked that he be taught it and two, to help protect him from foreign nations who might want to capture him to breed the Rinnegan. Both of these are true so you won't be lying to him. Once again Kakashi, I'm sorry to put you on the spot like this."

* * *

Kabuto and Kimimaru were quietly walking down Konoha's streets to their destination. The sound spy was shocked that Lord Orochimaru was willing to risk his discovery just to sneak Kimimaru into the village. What was it about Naruto's bloodline that had scared the Snake Sannin when he had received that information? Normally, Lord Orochimaru collected all he could on bloodlines and tried get people with enticing bloodlines to join Oto. But, this time his master had order Naruto to be killed and the boy's body destroyed.

It seemed like a waste to Kabuto. The Rinnegan was said to have been wielded by the Rokudou Sennin, and it would be fascinating to study such a bloodline. Kabuto didn't know what powers the bloodline had and he dearly wished to study it. There was the possibility that the Rinnegan wasn't that impressive compared to some of the more modern doujutsus. It was, at least according to legends, the very first bloodline to appear. But the traitor medic figured that the bloodline had to do something if Orochimaru wanted to destroy it.

Oh well, you can't get everything that you want. Besides, there were still dozens of bloodlines out there that Kabuto couldn't wait to get his hands on. Losing one would be regrettable, but acceptable. Kabuto remained silent until the duo arrived at an alley near Naruto's apartment. Once they were there he said, "Alright Kimimaru. Naruto's apartment is the top apartment directly across from us. I'll leave you to take care of the boy, since I need to maintain my cover."

Kimimaru nodded his head and replied, "Your assistance is not required Kabuto. Lord Orochimaru wants this boy killed and I will do it." The bone user shrugged off one shoulder of his shirt and created a bone blade. With his weapon in hand, Kimimaru stealthily headed over to the apartment complex and started to walk up the wall.

Naruto was soundly sleeping inside his apartment when his danger sense went off like mad forcing him to get up. Unlike everyone else, Naruto's danger sense was at its strongest when he was in his home. The blond haired ninja quickly jumped out of bed and thought about what he should do. Kakashi had warned him that he might be attacked because of the Rinnegan. That's why Naruto's copy cat instructor had given him the instructions for the Rasengan last week.

Unfortunately, Naruto was still on the first step of learning that jutsu. Naruto knew he needed to do something and do it fast. Suddenly an idea came to him and Konoha's infamous prankster grin. If someone was going to try and assassinate him, he'd give them an eyeful. He created four water clones out of the water in the bathtub that he had left for just such an occasion and quickly hid himself in the closet. Part of Naruto wished he could use shadow clones, but that jutsu caused too much of a feedback problem with the Rinnegan and water clones would work just fine. One of the clones hopped into bed while the other three clones used the Sexy Jutsu to turn into three different bombshells. The three female disguised clones quickly climbed on top of the clone Naruto and started acting excited.

All of this was ready when Kimimaru reached Naruto's window. Now Kimimaru was a hardened warrior who had killed hundreds of enemies and would gladly lay down his life if Orochimaru asked him to. However, the bone user was also a teenage guy who had basically lived like a monk in between missions and training. Thus the sight of the mini orgy froze the would-be assassin in his place. Naruto quickly capitalized on Kimimaru's shocked pause and jumped out of the closet shouting, "Divine Judgment!" The jutsu quickly destroyed Naruto's clones, took out part of the wall, and sent Kimimaru flying into the roof of the building across the street.

Kimimaru was shocked at Naruto completely unorthodox attack plan. However, the bone user quickly recovered and strengthened his bones so that his impact with the other apartment complex only tickled. He immediately jumped out of the impact crater and glared at Naruto. Lord Orochimaru was wise to send him to take out this threat. The boy was far stronger than a normal genin should be. Kimimaru knew that secrecy was out of the question now and that his only hope of killing Naruto and escaping the village lay in overpowering everyone he met.

Naruto sensed Kimimaru's power building up and knew he had two options: running or fighting. Running was out of question. There was just too high of a chance that an innocent bystander could get killed if he ran. With his mind made up, Naruto bit his thumb and said in a low voice, "Summoning Realm from the Bardo: Hell." A cloud of smoke appeared around Naruto and his Deva body was quickly joined by his Hell body.

The Oto assassin looked up as soon as he finished activating his cursed seal level one and was shocked when he saw the two Narutos. With his shock written on his face, Kimimaru shouted out, "What are you! What is this?"

Deva Naruto grinned and replied, "I am Naruto of the Deva Realm." Hell Naruto immediately continued the introductions. "I am Naruto of the Hell Realm" The two Narutos then alternated talking as they continued on. "I do not know who you are or who sent you. However, you have invaded my village and tried to kill me. I will not allow you to complete your mission or leave this village."

Kimimaru immediately scowled and said, "It doesn't matter what kind of power you have. I will kill you just like Lord Orochimaru ordered me to." Both of Naruto's sets of eyes narrowed when the Snake Sannin was mentioned. Naruto didn't know a whole lot about Orochimaru, but he did know that the Snake Sannin was a major criminal.

With the battle lines drawn, Naruto started off by having Deva Naruto grab Hell Naruto and throwing him towards Kimimaru. As Hell Naruto was flying over the street he pulled out his senbon needles and unleashed them in a barrage. Deva Naruto quickly followed behind Hell Naruto by jumping across the street and unleashing a storm of shuriken. It was a clever move because Naruto staggered both of his attacks so it would be difficult for Kimimaru to doge.

However, Kimimaru was not one of Orochimaru's elite ninjas for nothing. He quickly created a second bone blade and used his two blades to deflect most of the shuriken and senbon needles. The bone wielder let some of his bone marrow seep out and hardened it under his skin to act like armor against those projectiles that managed to hit him. As soon as the last shuriken hit, Kimimaru charged at Deva Naruto.

Naruto already had his next move planed out and quick launched another divine judgement. However, the target Naruto was aiming at wasn't Kimimaru. Instead, Naruto was aiming that the support struts of the water tank to his right. The struts quickly gave way causing the water tank to come crashing down on the roof and unleashing several hundred gallons of water. Deva Naruto quickly jumped off of the roof and at the same time, Hell Naruto created a dome of demonic ice mirrors.

* * *

A major fight breaking out in the middle of the village was not something that could just be ignored. Several dozen ANBU, even more regular ninjas, and the Hokage quickly arrived at the battle scene. They arrived just in time to witness the water tank come crashing down and Hell Naruto creating his demonic ice mirrors. One of the ANBU quickly turned to Sarutobi and said, "Sir, what do you want us to do?"

The old Hokage fully understood their hesitation. From their point of view, it looked like two unknown ninjas were fighting in the village. In a calm manner, Sarutobi ordered, "We'll wait and see what's going on. I recognize that technique and it belongs to a stout ally of the village. Only intervene if the white haired one looks like he's going to kill the person using this jutsu."

Gui, who was in hearshot of Sarutobi, quickly replied, "Sir, would it not be youthful to help out an ally who is fighting to protect our village?"

Sarutobi shook his head and quickly said, "Not in this case Gui. You are not familiar with these jutsus or our friend's usual tactics. There is a very good chance that you'll interfere and cause our friend's plan to backfire."

Another jonin spotted Deva Naruto running along the side of the building to get behind Kimimaru. This jonin quickly spoke up. "Sir, shouldn't we pull the Uzumaki boy out of this fight? There's no way that a green genin like him could be ready for this kind of fight."

Once again Sarutobi shook his head and said, "Leave the boy alone. His bloodline makes him especially helpful to our ally. While I agree that a genin shouldn't be involved in this kind of a fight, Naruto is the only one here who is familiar enough with our friend's abilities to help. We'll set up a perimeter to defend the villagers and move in if the enemy if about to win."

* * *

Inside the ice mirror dome, things weren't going so well for Kimimaru. Hell Naruto wasn't that much of a problem since he was only armed with senbon needles and Kimimaru could defend himself against those. The problem was the below freezing air within the dome which was causing his lung disease to flare up. Being dressed in summer clothing and the hyper metabolism caused by the cursed seal only enhanced the problem for the bone user.

Kimimaru knew that things would only get worse for him the longer he remained inside the ice dome. He was loosing lots of valuable body heat every time he used his bloodline. The Kaguyas had avoided fighting in winter for just this reason. Kimimaru made a mad dash for one of the mirrors while forming the drill of the Dance of the Clementas: Flower. The bone drill was able to shatter the mirror letting Kimimaru out of the icy dome.

Unfortunately for the last Kaguya, Deva Naruto was waiting for Kimimaru and immediately blasted him back into the icy dome with a divine judgment. Another demonic ice mirror formed as soon as Kimimaru was inside trapping the young man again in the ice dome. By this point, the lung disease had flared up so acutely that Kimimaru was coughing up blood. The cold was starting to get to the boy and he was having trouble focusing.

Hell Naruto sadly shook his head as he watched his opponent try to handle the cold. He recognized his opponent as the young boy that Haku and Zabuza and briefly encountered as they had left Kiri all those years ago. The young Kimimaru's lonely and questioning face now haunted Naruto's mind. It had been obvious to Haku that the young Kimimaru had been in desperate need of a friend. Obviously, Orochimaru had gotten to the boy and turned him into this fanatic. But perhaps, he could reach that lonely boy.

Since Kimimaru was in such a bad shape, Naruto decided to go out on a limp and talk to his would be assassin. "Why are you continuing to fight? In your current condition you won't last much longer."

Wiping away more blood from his mouth, Kimimaru tried to focus on Naruto and replied, "Orochimaru ordered me to kill you. I won't fail him. He's the only one who matters."

Naruto immediately spoke again. "He took you in didn't he? He's your precious person, the one who you would give anything and everything to protect isn't he?"

As soon as Kimimaru heard these words he was frozen in shock. Naruto's words cut through him to his core. By this time the cold and the disease had gotten so bad that Kimimaru fell to his knees. In a shaken manner, Kimimaru inquired, "H-how do you know that? How could you even comprehend that?"

Hell Naruto stepped out of his mirror and approached Kimimaru. He then spoke in a determined and gentile voice. "I know this Kimimaru because I've been inside that dark pit of loneliness. For the longest time most of the people in this village would have liked nothing more then to see me dead. Even now, many of the villagers would throw a party if I died. It was only the love of the Old Man that kept me sane."

"This body you see before you was originally Haku's before he fused with me. Haku was from Kiri same as you. He also lost his family thanks to the Mizukage's anti-bloodline propaganda. Unlike you, Haku's mother was killed by his father because she had a bloodline and his father would have killed him too if his bloodline didn't activate when it did. Haku had nothing until Zabuza came along and took pity on him."

"Orochimaru did the same thing for you that the Old Man did for me and Zabuza did for Haku. He took you in and banished the loneliness. But tell me, does Orochimaru care for you as the Old Man and Zabuza cared for me and Haku? If I fail a mission or if Haku had failed a mission our precious people might be disappointed in our failures. But, they would be far happier that we made it out alive. Does Orochimaru care for you like that? Or, would he simply discard you and find someone else who's more useful to him." Naruto was grasping at straws here figuring that a criminal who had left Konoha wouldn't care for his subordinates like the Old Man.

Luckily, Lady Luck was on Naruto's side today and Kimimaru's face twisted in horror. Naruto's speech immediately dragged up Kimimaru's worst memory since Orochimaru had found him. It was the day when he had discovered that he had a terminal illness and thus wouldn't be able to be Orochimaru's next vessel. Combined with the cold, the disease, and Naruto's speech, this memory torn Kimimaru's psyche apart leaving only the frightened little boy who had been locked in that dark cell by his father. Icy tears formed in Kimimaru's eyes as he whispered out, "I don't want to be alone. I don't want to die."

Naruto could sense that Kimimaru was quickly approaching near death. The poor, broken boy would need emergency medical attention, which he was unlikely to receive, if he was going to survive. This sight pulled at Naruto's heart. He or Haku could have ended up just like Kimimaru was if things had gone differently. Maybe that feeling was why Naruto unexpectedly said, "You don't have to be alone Kimimaru. If you want, I can fuse with you so you'll always be with me and Haku."


	3. Chapter 3

Kimimaru couldn't believe what he was hearing. Here he was at death's door and his opponent, who he had been sent to kill by the way, was offering him the chance to live. The bone user looked up at Hell Naruto and stuttered out, "Why? Why are you offering this to me?"

Hell Naruto's eyes softened and he said, "I know that deep, dark pit you're in right now. I've been there before and I don't want anyone to have to be in that pit. Your eyes show me that you're a good person that I would love to call my friend. Don't let the fact that so far we've been enemies bother you. I don't take it personally since it was just business."

It was the absolute honesty and sincerity in Naruto's face that made up Kimimaru's mind. With his last breath before falling into a coma, the bone user whispered out, "I'll join you." Instantly, a blue astral figure jumped out of Hell Naruto and into Kimimaru. Hell Naruto fell to the ground next to Kimimaru as his ice mirrors shattered on the roof.

Naturally, all of the ninjas who had been anxiously watching the fight immediately moved in when they saw the ice mirrors shatter. They didn't know what had happened inside the ice dome. All they knew was that the mirrors had shattered and two people were lying on the roof tops. Deva Naruto quickly spotted the approaching ninjas and jumped in front of his other two bodies. He then shouted out, "Easy there. The situation has been taken care of."

Sarutobi quickly signaled for everyone to stay put and he then asked, "What do you mean that everything has been taken care of Naruto? Is the enemy dead?"

Naruto shook his head and replied, "Didn't need to kill him since the cold was going to do him in. He and I had a little chat inside the ice mirrors and now I've gained my human realm. Could you just take my bodies to a safe place where we can sleep off the effects of the merger? Assimilating Kimimaru's memories and removing that damn cursed seal of Orochimaru's at the same time is really exhausting."

The old Hokage was shocked to hear Naruto mention Orochimaru. After all, it had been years since anyone had mentioned Sarutobi's treasonous student by name in his presence. Deva Naruto then collapsed from exhaustion into Sarutobi's arms. All the Jonins watched as Sarutobi gently held Naruto close and started giving directions. "Pick up both boys and follow me to the hospital! Someone go get Naruto's doctor and tell her to get to the hospital ASAP. "

One of the Jonins blinked his eyes and questioningly said, "Uh sir? Why aren't we taking these two into custody? The prison has enough medical care to watch out for these two. We shouldn't endanger our people by letting unknowns into the hospital."

Sarutobi sent a withering glare at the Jonin and said, "Those unknowns are Naruto Uzumaki just as much as the person in my arms is Naruto Uzumaki. It's part of his bloodline. Now follow my orders and Yahiko, your on report for questioning my orders on this." Gai and Kakashi quickly moved in and picked up Naruto's human and hell bodies. They then followed the Hokage towards the hospital.

* * *

Deva Naruto opened his eyes about an hour after arriving at the hospital. He immeidatly looked around his room and spotted Sarutobi, Kakashi, and Doctor Mizuno waiting in the room. Doctor Mizuno walked up to Deva Naruto's bed, gave him a friendly smile, and said, "How are you feeling Naruto?"

The blonde smiled at the doctor and said, "I've got a bit of a headache, but otherwise I'm doing alright." As soon as he said that, Naruto woke up his other realms. Both of them were in beds perpendicular to the head of his bed. Naruto had both his Hell and Human bodies stretch. Human Naruto then said, "Man, the fusion really helps out. It feels so great to no longer have that damn illness."

Doctor Mizuno quickly put her stethoscope to Human Naruto's chest and carefully listened. After a few moments she withdrew the stethoscope and said, "Your breathing sounds fine and I can't detect anything more than a few dead viruses remaining in your lungs. However, I want you to keep this body here for overnight observation. You've never fused with an ill body that had also been under that cursed seal. Who knows what kinds of effects this might have with your bloodline."

Naturally, all three Narutos' started to whine. "But Miz, I'm fine. In fact, I'm three times healthier than any other ninja could possibly be!"

This wisecrack only earned Human Naruto a gentle bop on the head from Doctor Mizuno who replied, "You're also three times more likely to get ill Naruto. Now don't pout on me mister. I've got a little girl back home who's a whole lot cuter than you'll ever get to be and her pouts don't work. Just be grateful that I'm willing to consider the possibility of letting your other two bodies out tonight." Naruto almost immediately calmed down as he tried to be on his best behavior to get out of the hospital.

Sarutobi chose this time to approach Deva Naruto and the wise old man said, "Good job tonight Naruto. I can see that you have been training very hard. However, I would like to know who exactly your new realm was. Also, I would like to know why he was fighting you and how he got into the village. This is a serious breach of security that only can help us fix."

Deva Naruto frowned as he recalled Kimimaru's memories and then he spoke. "His name was Kimimaru Kaguya. He survived the Kaguya's assault on Kiri and that snake bastard Orochimaru found. After that, Kimimaru was raise as Orochimaru's right hand man. The snake sent him to kill me because the bastard wants the Rinnegan destroyed. A spy by the name of Kabuto Yakushi slipped Kimimaru through the village's defenses."

Instantly, Sarutobi was in full battle mode. There was a traitor in Konoha and if there was one thing that the old man had come to hate, it was traitors. Sarutobi snapped his fingers and almost instantly an ANBU appeared. The Hokage calmly said, "I want all available squads to capture Kabuto Yakushi. Also, bring the boy's parents in for questioning and have the Yakushi house search. If his parents are innocent, let them go. If they are part of this, press them for as much information as possible and then kill them."

Once the ANBU member had disappeared, Sarutobi turned around and saw the shocked looks in all of Naruto's faces. The old leader sighed and said, "I'm sorry you had to see that Naruto. Being Hokage is not nearly as great as it may seem. The position of Hokage means that you have to insure that the village is defended and things like what you just witness will come up. It is regrettable, but sometimes iron discipline is needed to protect everyone. The key when one has to use it is to remember to always hate it. That way, you will only use it when necessary."

Hell Naruto nodded his head showing that he understood what the Old Man was trying to tell him. Naruto didn't like what he had just seen Sarutobi do, since it was so at odds with the kind persona he was used to. However, the young ninja could understand the regrettable necessity. Suddenly a thought came to Naruto's mind and Human Naruto nervously said, "Uh Old Man? Is anything going to happen to me for merging with Kimimaru?"

Sarutobi put a comforting hand on Deva Naruto's shoulder and replied, "You've got nothing to worry about Naruto. As a Konoha ninja who was defending himself, all you have to do is write a report of everything you've learned from the encounter. Due to the intelligence wind all, you'll probably have to spend several days writing out everything Kimimaru knew about Orochimaru and other points of interest. It's not going to be fun, but consider it a taste of what I have to do everyday as Hokage."

The Hokage's voice then grew more solemn as he continued on. "Unfortunately, we will no longer be able to keep a lid on your abilities to add realms. The whole situation was simply too public to keep everything quiet. Tomorrow, I'm going to make a village wide announcement about your bloodline and explain the abilities it grants you. I won't go into too much detail because we don't really know too much about the Rinnegan. People will just know enough so that they don't go into a panic. Trust me; I've gotten a lot better with public relations over the past few years. The fact that the Rinnegan was originally wielded by the Rukodou Sennin will also help you out. Now get some rest Naruto, you've got a long day ahead of you."

* * *

Pandemonium was the one word could be used to describe Konoha the next day after the attempt at Naruto's life. There was some panic over the fact that the Rinnegan allowed Naruto to have several bodies. Luckily, the fact that this was the bloodline of the Rukodou Sennin was enough to calm people down so that Sarutobi could explain the special requirements that were needed in order for Naruto to fuse with someone. There were still a few people who reacted negatively to this aspect of Naruto's bloodline. However, most of the villagers adopted a more neutral stance due to the prestige Naruto would bring and having heard of weird bloodlines before.

As Sarutobi had been announcing this to the village, almost every ANBU in the village was busy cleaning out Sound's spies in Konoha. There weren't too many spies, but a lot of them were in critical points that allowed Orochimaru to know all he needed to know about Konoha. Also, concrete proof that ROOT was still in existence allowed Sarutobi to have Danzo killed. The old Hokage had known that Danzo was ambitious for years, but had simply considered Danzo to be an annoying irritant. However, the man had been trying to establish himself as the shadow leader of the village and that was unforgivable. Over the next several weeks most of the former ROOT members would be entered back into the regular Konoha forces.

While all of this was happening, Naruto was sitting inside Konoha Intelligence headquarters filling reports. All three of his realms were out in a desperate attempt to get the information Kimimaru possessed into Intelligence's hands ASAP. Naruto really didn't want to spend his day filling out report after report. However, he was the only one who knew Oto's intelligence codes, base locations, and all that other good stuff that Konoha would need if the village went to war with Oto. At one point, Naruto had complained that a good chuck of this information would probably be useless in a few days once Orochimaru heard about Kimimaru's failure. Unfortunately for Naruto, he told to double his efforts so that it could be more useful.

Naruto was finally released from Konoha Intelligence at 6 in the evening when the Jonin in charge of intelligence decided that Naruto had been pumped dry of any useful information. The weary blond genin walked down the streets to Ichiraku Ramen not even noticing the respect in the villagers' eyes as he passed by. When Naruto got to Ichiraku's, he simply hauled himself up on a barstool and said, "An order of Miso Ramen please."

Ayame was covering for her father and she immediately glanced over to where Naruto was sitting. Normally, Naruto's order wouldn't even cause her to look up. However, Naruto's voice was weary and slightly depressed, instead of his usual hyper and chipper attitude. She quickly filled up a bowel for Naruto and then asked as she was placing the bowel down, "What's wrong Naruto? Did something bad happen?"

Looking up at Ayame, Naruto gave a weak smile and said, "Just got back from Konoha Intelligence. I've spent the last ten hours filling out reports for them on Oto. Some of the questions they were asking me were just plain ridiculous. Why should it matter whether Oto uses pork or beef in their mystery meat? They don't import any food from Fire Country or any other country for that matter."

That was something that Ayame could understand. As restaurant owners, she and her father had to deal with bimonthly inspections of their restaurant and had to insure that all of their ingredients could be properly tracked back the farms that grew them. It was a bureaucratic headache that all restaurant owners in Konoha grudgingly accepted. There was just too much risk of food being poisoned otherwise.

Wanting to change to more pleasant topics, Ayame suddenly asked, "So Naruto, what do your other bodies look like? I've been hearing about them all day from the grapevine, but no one's said what your other forms look like. Well, they mentioned that your other bodies have the Rinnegan, but that's it."

Naruto stopped eating his ramen and thought about Ayame's request. On the one hand, Naruto was a little leery about showing his other realms in public so soon after Sarutobi's announcement. But on the other hand, Ayame was a friend who was curious about what he could do. Eventually, Naruto's desire to show how much he had improved won out. The blond bloodline ninja quickly got off of his stool and calmly said, "Summoning, come forth from the Bardo: All." The typical ninja smoke filled the small restaurant. When it cleared, Human Naruto and Hell Naruto were standing on ether side of Deva Naruto.

Ayame, and all the nearby villagers, were a little surprised to see the other two Narutos. However, Human Naruto quickly gave Ayame his trademark grin and said, "So what do you think?" This simple gesture quickly convinced the nearby villagers that Naruto was still Naruto even though he had more bodies. Naruto would never realize it, but this simple event helped stop any hostile undercurrents among the villagers over his multiple bodies.

* * *

Sarutobi looked at the assembled genin instructors and calmly said, "As many of you know, the Chunin Exams will be taking place next month. Konoha was slatted to be the host of the exams this time. However, the breakup of the Oto spy ring in the village has caused the Fire Daimyo to petition the International Chunin Exam Committee to hold the exam somewhere else this time." Several people started murmuring and complaining about this move. This wasn't too surprising since the petition would be a blow to Konoha's prestige and in the harsh ninja market, prestige was vital.

The old Hokage sent a withering glare at the loudest Jonins and continued on. "Personally, I have to agree with the Fire Daimyo. Oto's former spy ring represented a massive breach of village security. How can we claim to keep all of the daimyo's safe when several vital areas of village security were compromised? Obviously, we can't make that claim. Today I received the ICEC's decision, and the exams next month will be held in Kumo since they are next in the rotation. Also, Konoha will be provisionally granted Kumo's slot in the rotation; provided that we have improved village security. Failure to meet the ICEC's standards of village security will cause Konoha to be prohibited from hosting the exams this cycle."

Hearing the ICEC's decision caused even the hottest headed Jonin in the meeting to become serious. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, Konoha had really dropped the ball when it came to village security and now they were paying for it. Luckily, the village still had the chance to avoid the damage that being dropped from the exam cycle would have caused, but the village would have to eat humble pie for a few months. Hopefully, a resounding success at the exams would erase part of the village's new black mark.

Sarutobi pulled out his pipe and calmly smoked it as he jonins were thinking everything through. He then put down the pipe and said, "Normally, I would ask you team leaders if you want to recommend your teams for the exams. However, I am changing things do to the situation the village finds itself in. We need all for all of our teams to tournament winning teams and we can't send many teams. Therefore, each of you will get to recommend one and only one genin for the exams. Once the list of recommended genin is compiled, I will temporarily assign those genin new teams for the exams. They will then be taken off the mission roster so they can concentrate on training. Now, I would like the names of the recommended genin."

Kakashi was torn by the Hokage's decision. What was he supposed to do? Part of him toyed with the idea of not recommending anyone from his team and claiming that they were too green. However, the Cyclops knew that he needed to recommend someone to help the village recover its prestige. Sakura barely earned a passing thought in Kakashi's decision. She was still only an average ninja without a bloodline or famous name to grab the customers. One day she'd have her chance at the spotlight, but not today.

That still left Kakashi with having to choose either Naruto or Sasuke as his recommendation. Both boys deserved the chance to become a chunin and both had a lot going for them. Sasuke was prodigy with the Sharingan and the Uchiha name. All three of those would defiantly catch the daimyos eyes. Naruto was incredibly adaptable, completely unpredictable, and currently wielded three powerful bloodlines. The multiple bloodlines and the fact that one of those bloodlines was the legendary Rinnegan would more than make up for the lack of an Uzumaki clan name. Simply put, Kakashi couldn't make up his mind.

Sarutobi had conveniently skipped over asking Kakashi for his recommendation at the moment. No one complained about this since they all knew the quandary that Kakashi had found himself in. Unfortunately, all the other Jonins had announced their decisions leaving everyone looking at Kakashi. Several Jonins thought about making the suggestion that both boys be sent to the exams. However, worries of their friends complaining about favoritism made those Jonin keep this idea to themselves.

Eventually, Sarutobi decided that enough was enough and took the decision out of Kakashi's hands. In a wise manner he said, "We all know that Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha of Team 7 both bring tremendous benefits to the exams. Kakashi's hesitation to name either boy is understandable given the situation. Which one will bring in the most prestige for Konoha is hard to say. However, no village has tried to assassinate Sasuke and Orochimaru was willing to risk everything he had in our village in the attempt to take out Naruto. There is also the fact that the Water Daimyo will be attending Kumo's exam and Naruto possesses two bloodlines from his lands. While we don't own Water anything, the daimyo could raise a fuss over this at the moment that will hurt our customer base. Therefore, the young Uchiha will be Team 7's representative in the exams."

* * *

The next day Team 7's usual training field was rocked by the yell, "Dance of the Clematis: Flower!" The bolder that Human Naruto was standing in front of was quickly cracked by the ferocity of the attack. Kakashi had announced that Sasuke would be going to Chunin Exams and Naruto needed to let out some steam. Intellectually, he could understand why the bastard got to go instead of him. However, understanding something and accepting it were two totally different things. Naruto had worked his butt off since day one to advance and now he was being denied the chance to show he hard won skills because of some prejudicial daimyo in another country.

Sakura walked into the clearing and watched Human Naruto as he proceeded to pulverize the medium sized boulder. It shocked her to see Naruto going after the boulder like that since part of her still thought of him as the goofy boy in school. She had noticed the frustration in his eyes a few minutes ago after Kakashi had made the announcement and had decided to check up on him. For a second, Sakura thought that Naruto had swapped out his Deva body for his Human body. However, this assumption was quickly disproven when the rock shards were blasted to the west. The only jutsu Naruto had that could do something like that was his divine judgment from the Deva body.

Knowing that the Deva Realm had to around somewhere, Sakura started looking around. She quickly spotted that Naruto reclining on a tree limb with a slightly depressed aura about him. This situation just didn't seem right to the female member of Team 7. Sasuke was supposed to be the one with the gloomy, bad boy mystic and Naruto was supposed to be the cheerful and friendly, if slightly clueless, guy. A gloomy Naruto was just as natural as an emo clown. In other words, Naruto shouldn't be down and out like he was. This situation needed to be changed ASAP.

However, Sakura didn't have the first clue on just how she was going to pull Naruto out of this situation. Agreeing to go on a date with him probably would snap Naruto right back to his usual self. But, Sakura didn't want to go out with Naruto; he was still a little too annoying to be datable. Eventually, she decided to simply wing it and hope that something would come up to snap Naruto back to his usual self. Sakura therefore walked up to the tree Deva Naruto was reclining in and asked, "So Naruto, how are you coming in mastering three fields of vision?"

Naruto couldn't pass up a chance to talk with Sakura, even though he was annoyed with the Old Man. He quickly had his Human body walk into the clearance and say, "What do you think Sakura? The hard part is getting used to double vision from the first body. Since I mastered that, adding another field of vision was a piece of cake." Deva Naruto gave the object of his affections a grin and said, "It sure makes sparing with myself easier now that I can look at the spar from another angle and see the mistakes that I'm making."

Sakura nodded her head and couldn't help being amazed at Naruto's newest bout of intelligence. Naruto was still Naruto, but Kimimaru's experiences seemed to help sand out some of Naruto's ruff edges allowing his intelligence to show more. Before the Rinnegan, Naruto wouldn't have thought of finding his flaws like that. Sakura didn't want to admit it, but seeing Naruto's intelligence made the thought of going out on a date a little less revolting. The two genin then started talking about various training plans never realizing the subtle changes in their stances with each other.

* * *

Team 7, minus Sasuke who was off training for the exams, walked into Hokage Tower and headed to the mission desks. Once there, Kakashi looked at the chunin at the desk and said, "Team 7 requesting a mission."

The chunin didn't even bother to look up as he pulled out the D rank mission folder and said, "We have a few missions available. The memorial park needs to be cleaned up, a shipment of manure needs to be delivered to the Yamanaka flower shop, and the sewers need to be examined for cracks in the sealing. So, which mission do you want to do sir?"

Kakashi immediately felt the killing intent seeping off of Naruto and Sakura. Not that he blamed them, given those options for missions. So to defuse the situation Kakashi said, "Uh, are there any C Rank missions that we could do?"

Sadly, this Chunin was a completely by the book kind of person and he rudely rejected Kakashi's request, "Absolutely not! Regulations clearly state that genin teams are not to go on C Rank missions unless they have a full team." Kakashi was about to try and reason with the desk jockey when Naruto decided to take over the negotiations. He quickly summoned his other two realms and had those bodies appear around the chunin's desk. This was then followed by a directed blast of killing intent from all three realms. The killing intent wasn't enough to alert the guards, but it was enough to tell the chunin that it would be a good idea for him if he were to forget certain regulations. In a slightly shaky manner, the chunin pulled out the C Rank folder and said, "We've got the mayor of a small village requesting a group of ninja to take care of a small bandit problem. Do you accept the mission?"

Kakashi nodded his head and gratefully accepted the mission folder and signaled for Naruto and Sakura to follow him. Naruto paused for a second to send his Human and Hell realms back to the Bardo and then caught up with the other two. Meanwhile, Kakashi was glancing at the mission report to make sure everything was correct. He then turned to face his two students and said, "Alright you two, this mission is a basic smoke them mission. We're going to head to this village, locate the bandit camp, and kill as many bandits as we can until there are no more bandits or they flee the area. This is a fairly typical mission from the small villages off of the main roads."

Sakura lightly bit her lower lip and asked, "Uh Kakashi sensei? How many bandits are we going to be facing?" Even with her increased training, Sakura was very worried about her combat abilities. She just hadn't found a fighting style that was hers yet.

The former ANBU captain understood Sakura's nervousness and he reassuringly said, "Don't worry about the bandits too much Sakura. Backwoods bandit groups like we're going to be facing rarely have more than five or six members. These groups usually have little combat training and rely on intimidation to secure loot from the farmers. Trade in those areas just can't support larger and better trained bandit groups. Nevertheless, you must not underestimate these bandits. We loose two or three genin every year to bandits because those ninjas disregarded the bandits as a threat. However, I don't have to worry about something like that happening since I know you and Naruto are more intelligent than that."

Naruto was quietly standing by as Kakashi gave his impromptu lecture which surprised several of the observing chunin. The boy's rants in the mission room about missions before Wave were still quite infamous to those who regularly worked in the room. Seeing Naruto acting fairly calm while Kakashi talked about the mission simply drove home to those people that Naruto wasn't the brash loser he had been before. The boy then showed off his intelligence by asking, "How long is this mission going to be and how much equipment should we pack? Also, is there anything in the area that we should watch out for?"

Kakashi gave one of his eye smiles and replied, "Good questions Naruto. It will take us about four days to get to the village, so only pack a week's worth of food. We can restock our food supplies in the village after the mission before heading home. As for equipment, standard mission equipment is acceptable. Also, there isn't anything in the area to really worry about. It's simple farmland that some ruffians have moved in on." Unfortunately for Team 7, they would soon learn to never stop looking underneath the underneath.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun had just reached midmorning when Team 7 arrived at the village that had requested their help. Kakashi was in the lead as the team entered the village with Naruto on his right and Sakura on his left. Both genin were gazing at the sights around them. Sakura was interested to see what a thriving civilian village was like. Naruto was just happy to see ordinary people enjoying their lives. It was things like this that he fought for.

Kakashi observed his two students as they looked around and faintly smiled under his mask. The fact that they were so taken in by the village would mean that they would be all the more determined to get rid of the bandits. It was a lesson that Minato had worked to install in Kakashi when it had been a genin. According to Minato, it was better to fight for the love of the people around you than it was to fight for money. Back then, Kakashi had scoffed at the idea seeing it as ridiculous romanticizing of the ninja career. However, ANBU had taught Kakashi that a person needed something noble like wanting to defend others to hold on to or one would go insane. Sakura and Naruto weren't as skilled as he was at their age, but they were wiser than he was.

It took Team 7 a few minutes to find the village's town hall. Once there, Kakashi led the team to receptionist desk and said, "Jonin Kakashi Hatake of Konoha with genins Sakura Hurano and Naruto Uzumai of Konoha. We're here in response to the request sent ten days ago about a minor bandit group setting up near the village."

The receptionist stood up and said, "Follow me. The village elder has been expecting you." Team 7 was quickly led to a small door off to the side. The receptionist knocked on the door and poked her head inside. She then pulled her head back, turned to fact Team 7, and said, "The elder will see you now."

As team leader, Kakashi was the first through the door. The room inside was rather plain. In fact, it looked like the kind of office that workers in the Hokage's Tower had. Sitting at desk was a small chubby man who was obviously the village elder with a long mustache and a goatee. The elder looked up at Team 7 and cheerfully said, "Ah! Well this is an unexpected pleasure. I didn't know when I sent that mission request that Konoha would be seeing the Liberators of Wave to aid us. It is an honor to meet you all. However, where is the fourth member of your team?"

Naruto and Sakura quickly glanced at Kakashi wanting to know what to do. They hadn't expected this kind of a welcome and both genin were shocked to be known as the Liberators of Wave. Kakashi wasn't too shocked at the elder's greeting. News about what happened in Wave was bound to be carried by the grape vine that ran between villages. Konoha wouldn't have heard about it too much since this particular grape vine tended to stick to small town. The one eyed jonin politely said, "Our teammate Sauske Uchiha was needed on another mission that came up before we received this mission."

The elder nodded his head and then replied, "Yes, these things happen. However, that is enough about that. I'm sure that you're anxious to begin your mission. Please turn your attention to map on my left and note the road leading out of the village from the southeast. The bandits operate on that road; usually, the attacks have occurred where the road crosses the Yakunattia River five miles away from the village. However, there have been cases where the bandits have attacked a little father south along that road."

It quickly became apparent to everyone on Team 7 why the bandits were prowling around that stretch of road. The map showed the layout of the town and surrounding areas. Most of the village's farms, particularly the cash crop farms, were on the opposite side of the Yakunattia River. This seemed like a very stupid arrangement to Naruto, but Sakura remembered her geography lessons from the Academy. The village was built on a relatively rocky hill and most of the farmland was on the other side of the river.

Kakashi turned to the village elder and said, "My team and I will take care of the bandits tomorrow. I know that the day is still young, but I want my students to unpack, study the lay of the land, and learn about these bandits from some of the survivors from previous attacks. A small group of bandits aren't much of a threat to us, but it never hurts to be careful about these things."

* * *

It was a perfectly sunny day as a villager carefully pulled his small cart down the road. The villager's daughter was walking next the old farmer with a smile on her face. Up in front of them was a small stone bridge that they needed to cross in order to get home. A person would be hard pressed to find a better scene of peaceful country life.

Suddenly, a group of bandits appeared and quickly surrounded the small family. The daughter naturally scooted closer to her father and started hugging onto him for deal life. One of the bandits was dressed better than the other and confidently swaggered over to the pair. In an obnoxious and uppity manner he barked, "Hand over all your money and goods. Otherwise, we'll half to ask your daughter to help entertain us tonight." The bandit leader moved closer to the cowering duo and reach forward to grab the girl.

Quick as lighting, Sakura whipped out a kunai and threw it at the bandit leader as she deactivated the genjutsu she had cast on herself. The Kunoichi's aim was true and the kunai became lodged in the bandit chief's skull between the eyes. Kakashi quickly threw off his own disguise and threw two kunai at the other two bandits in front. At the same time, Naruto jumped out from under the blankets on the cart and quickly took care of the bandits in rear.

From start to stop, the fight took less than twenty seconds. Kakashi brushed off his hands as the last bandit fell dead to the ground. He gave the battle field a quick glance, smiled, and said, "Well done you two. This is how a shinobi battle should be. Remember, one can usually accomplish the same thing with a knife and basic planning that can be accomplished with several powerful jutsus."

Sakura nodded her head, but she only paid half attention to Kakashi. Most of her energy at the moment was focused around not throwing up. This was the first time that she had ever killed someone and she was feeling completely numb. She unintentionally looked over at the man she had slain and her knees started to buckle. Naruto was at Sakura's side in an instant and he gently helped her keep her balance. The blond ninja didn't say anything and just helped his teammate.

Kakashi looked on his teammates with a sad smile. It was a little sad that he had to watch Sakura make her first kill and not help her through it. Unfortunately, the one eyed jonin couldn't really help his student. Since Kakashi had made his first kill so young, he had no frame of reference to speak to her and comfort her. At least, Naruto was here and the boy could comfort Sakura. From what Kakashi could see, the boy was doing a fairly decent job. The one eyed jonin waited a few more minutes and then he gave an eye smile while saying, "Sakura, can we head back to the village or do you want to spend more time in Naruto's arms?"

Immediately, Sakura blush and jumped away from Naruto. She looked to the ground so that her teammates couldn't see her blush. Sakura then replied, "We can head back to the village now." Naruto quickly grabbed the cart and turned it around. Team 7 then walked down the road back to the village satisfied that they had completed another mission.

* * *

As the sun went down in the village, Team 7 was sitting at an outdoor booth of one of the restaurants. Kakashi had decided that the entire team would go out and just relax. It was his way to try and help Sakura get use to the fact that she had killed someone. Besides, it was expected on genin missions like this for the team to take a few days to deal with first kills. Making sure that genin coped with taking human life was important if one was to maintain a pool of useful ninja.

Currently, Kakashi was amusing himself watching Naruto and Sakrua's little antics. The young blond, since Naruto usually stuck to his original body, genin seemed to be trying to flirt with Sakura. While Naruto's skills had improved a bit, it was still very pathetic and almost painful to watch. Sakura seemed to constantly be annoyed by her teammate's pestering as she called it. However, Kakashi noticed that there was a look in Sakura's eyes showing that she enjoyed the attention Naruto was lavishing upon her and the distraction it provided from the pain. Now if only Sasuke could be here, then the Cyclops would have a great dinner and show.

Thoughts of the absent member of Team 7 made Kakashi a little down. Things just weren't the same without the Last Uchiha. Sure, the kid was way too obsessed at times with defeating Itachi and needed to work on his teamwork. But on the whole, Sasuke wasn't a bad kid and Kakashi wanted to make sure that Sasuke stayed that way.

This peaceful little scene was suddenly interrupted by a villager running into the village screaming, "We're all going to die! We're all going to die!" Naturally, a huge crowd formed around the bedraggled villager demanding an explanation. Team 7 quietly slipped into the crowd so that they could listen to the villager who had been shouting. That villager nervously said, "I was just at the Li farm where everything was burning! Mr. Li was dead in the front yard with a black arrow sticking out of his back."

Immediately, the villagers started to mutter in a frightened manner to each other. Black arrows were the call sign of the Akinari Clan. The Akinaris were originally lords of Aizu in Earth Country. However, the family had revolted against the Earth Daimyo and had been driven into exile twenty years ago. Ever since then the family had gone underground where they had become major crime lords. It was well known that the Akinari Clan was a dangerous group. Unlike other crime groups, the Akinari had loyal ninjas under their control known as the Seven Spears of Aizu.

The nervous crowd suddenly felt a calming presence approach them. Many of the villagers turned and saw their beloved village elder approaching. Everyone politely made way so that the elder could make his way through the crowd to the messenger. The elder smiled and said, "This is disheartening news to hear. Mr. Li was an old friend of mine and my heart mourns to hear this about him and his family. However, may I ask why you are claiming that everyone in the village is going to die? Some of Mr. Li's sons could get rowdy and might have provoked the Akinari Clan's wrath."

For a second, the crowd started to calm down when they heard the elder's words. He had presented a perfectly rational explanation that was far more appealing then everyone being attack. Unfortunately, the messenger dashed that hope by pulling out a note that had an arrow hole in it. The messenger then said, "I found this message stuck to the arrow on Mr. Li's back. It's a message from Katou Akinari, the head of the Akinari Clan. He swears that he will burn the village to the ground because of the death of his son earlier today."

All three members of Team 7 looked at each other and then silently made their ways out of the crowd. Kakashi motioned for Naruto and Sakura to follow him to the team's hotel room as the crowd continued to panic. Once they were in the room, Kakashi said, "It's obvious that one of the bandits we killed today was Katou Akinari's son. If the Akinari Clan is going to attack, they will bring out some, if not all, the Seven Spears. Each Spear is either a B or an A Class ninja and the Spears have an impressive ability to work together. The question for us at the moment is what do we do about this?"

Naruto's face suddenly got hard and he said, "We need to say and fight Kakashi. We're the ones that killed this crime scum's son and the people of the village are the ones who are going to be attack because of it." Sakura nodded her head to show that she agreed with Naruto.

That answer warmed Kakashi's heart since it was the right thing to do. However, he needed to see just how committed Naruto and Sakura were. In a cooler than normal tone Kakashi said, "It's not really our problem Naruto. The villagers paid us to remove the bandits and we did. The fact that one of the bandits happened to be a member of the Akinari Clan is just an unexpected complication. We have no more responsibility over what happens here. Besides, we have no knowledge of how many men Katou is going to bring, when he's going to be attacked, or how many of the Spears are going to be attacking. It is tactically sound for us to retreat and summon forces from the nearest daimyo fort and ninja patrols to help us."

Just like Kakashi expected, Naruto continued to look at him without fear and said, "That may be the wise thing to do Kakashi, but it's not the right thing to do. We caused things to escalate to this level so we need to stick around and make them right again. For all we know, Katou could kill everyone in the village by the time we got reinforcements and then what would be the point? It's better to be a defender than to be an avenger."

Sakura quickly jumped in and said, "Naruto's right sir. We're responsible for this, so we should try to correct it. Besides, according to the settlement treaty between the Shodai and the Fire Daimyo, all Konoha shinobi are honor bound to defend the settlements of Fire Country from attack." It quite obvious from the tone of her voice, that Sakura was extremely nervous about going into battle.

Kakashi sighed and then replied, "Both of you are correct. We're going to stay here and try to save the villagers. Naruto, you're going to be using all your realms to cover three quadrants of the village. I'll cover the fourth quadrant. Sakura, you're going to part of the last line of defense for the villagers guarding the safe house that the village elder designates. Now I want both of you to get some shut eye and remember we don't know when the attack is going to take place. That means sleep suited up and ready to go. I'm going to finalize things with the village elder and call for reinforcements. Hopefully, we can hold out until they arrive."

* * *

Two days latter, several companies of slightly disorderly ronins and ordinary bandits could be seen marching towards the village. At the head of this force rode Katou Akinari on a black horse with the Spears of Anzu walking briskly by his side. The crime lord's face was hardened in anger as he thought about the village he was about to destroy. How dare they kill his son! The Earth Daimyo might have forced him from his ancestral lands, but he'd show everyone to fear the might of the Akinari clan.

Katou turned his horse around to face his men and shouted out, "You all know why you're here today. Because of this village my son is dead and that must be avenged. I want you all to burn the entire village to the ground! Loot whatever you want from the village, rape whoever catches your eye. I don't care what you do just as long as every man, woman, and child in that village dies!" Immediately a tremendous cheer rose up from the Akinari forces as they heard their orders. The criminals, for to call them soldiers was in insult to all honorable soldiers, rushed at the village like possessed men.

Across from this vile swarm was a few dozen villagers armed with shovels that had been turned into makeshift spears. These desperate men were standing behind a hastily constructed wall of carts trying desperately to not just turn around and run. The only thing that was keeping them at the wall was the knowledge that they couldn't outrun the Akinari forces.

Deva Naruto was standing on a nearby roof watching the charging forces. Privately, Naruto had to admit that the enemy army was rather intimidating. However, Naruto's training and experiences allowed him to stay calm and wait. He had just one good shot of breaking this attack wave. If he failed, then the enemy could reach the villagers' line and almost certainly break through. Deva Naruto turned to the dog summon that Kakashi had left for communication and said, "Tell Kakakshi that I'm requesting that my Hell and Human realms be allowed to leave their assigned quadrants to assist me here." The summons nodded its furry little head and raced off for the one eyed jonin.

Suddenly, Deva Naruto jumped down from the roof, landed in front of the makeshift wall, and shouted out at the top of his lungs, "DIVINE JUDGMENT!!" Everything, including the grass, in front of Deva Naruto was blown away. Whole squads suddenly found themselves dozens of feet in the air. Others where driven into the earth or into each other's weapons. With that one attack Naruto completely broke the Akinari forces' momentum. The villagers looked on Naruto with amazement and starting to think that they might have a chance.

When Katou saw his men blasted back he turned to the Spears and said, "What kind of ninja trick is that?" To the crime lord's utter shock and fear, his Spears were all staring in shock at Naruto. One of them was actually trembling. The Seven Spears started muttering amongst themselves and Katou heard one of them mutter Rinnegan. He immediately glared at the Spear who had said that and demanded, "What is the Rinnegan? How does it relate to a third of my men being taken out?"

One of the spears looked up at the enraged lord and replied, "The Rinnegan is a legendary bloodline limit Milord. Legends about that bloodline speak of its wielders using attacks like what we just saw: men and the very earth beneath them blown away without the wind. We are in trouble if that ninja who is defending the village actually has the Rinnegan. The legends speak of those with the bloodline rivaling the gods."

Katou rage got the better of him and he smacked the Spear. He then glared at the other Spears and said, "Are you men or old women?! Those legends are nothing more than campfire stories made to scare morons into obedience. Go kill that pesky ninja before the moral of the men break completely."

While the crime boss and company were talking, an ice mirror appeared on the ground a few feet to their right. Hell Naruto jumped out of the mirror with Human Naruto holding his hand so that the Human Realm could be transported as well. Both of Naruto's realms were smirking as they looked upon the Spears. The Spears were undoubtedly powerful fighters, but they were so focused on their lord that even an academy student could take them out in a surprise attack. Hell Naruto quickly jumped back into the ice mirror and popped out on the other side of the Spears. As one, Human Naruto pulled out two bone kunai from his shoulders and Hell Naruto covered two kunai in razor sharp ice.

Just Katou finished yelling at his spears, four of the spears let out a dying scream and fell to the ground. The three remaining spears instantly moved to a defensive stance around their lord. Washinosa, a master of taijutsu that could rival Gai, was at the twelve o'clock position. Shiba, who was a master with the whip, was at the four o'clock position. Finally Oaidouji, the ancient master of the chain & sickle, was at the eight o'clock position. These three were enraged that their comrades had been killed in such a cowardly manner. However, they were all privately impressed with the skill used to take the other four Spears out.

Oaidouji snarled out, "Come out ninjas! There's no point in hiding anymore." Instantly, the remaining Spears were attacked by a second volley of kunai that they quickly and literally destroyed. Shiba used a jutsu that made his whip so sharp that it cut the kunai in half. Oaidouji called out again, "See it's pointless. You may have been able to catch us unaware, but now you've blown your chance.

Naruto knew that he was in a dangerous position. The remaining Spears couldn't be allowed to join up with the criminal army. Such an event would boost the enemy's moral and could very well lead to them breaking through the village's meager defenses. Kakashi couldn't help him out because they didn't know if Katou had another group in reserve. The proximity of the villagers prevented Naruto from using his Divine Judgment jutsu at full power. Naruto needed more time to defeat the criminals and so he decided to show off his Human and Hell realms.

Katou was furious when he saw Hell Naruto and Human Naruto. How dare these children kill four of his best warriors! The crime lord called out, "Who do you brats think you are?"

Hell Naruto calmly, so as to be more infuriating, said, "I am Naruto of the Hell Realm, bearer of the Hyouton." Human Naruto mimicked his other body and said, "I am Naruto of the Human Realm, bearer of the Shikotsu Myaku." Both realms then said in perfect unison, "This village is under my protection. Leave now and I will spare your lives. My Deva Realm is slaying your men and soon you will have no one under you. How powerful do you think you will be without your servants?"

Just like Naruto hoped, the remaining Spears were reconsidering whether or not it was a good idea to fight him. Hopefully, Katou would decide that the assault was now too costly for him to continue. Naruto knew that even with all three realms free he would have some difficulty fighting the remaining Spears. Unfortunately, Katou was now beyond reason and he shouted out, "Kill him my Spears!"

Oaidouji quickly called out, "Shiba, go after the Hell Realm and take out the Human Realm Washinosa. Keep the realms as separate as you can! According to the legends the Rinnigan is weakened the further apart the various bodies are." All three of Naruto's realms frowned when Naruto heard Oaidouji's advice. Keeping the realms apart was a very sound plan since it prevented Naruto from covering his various bodies and it made his shared field of vision less effective.

Despite Naruto's best efforts, the Spears were able to separate Hell Naruto and Human Naruto. This made things very tricky for the young Rinnegan wielder. Both realms had the powers of two bloodlines to call upon, but Shiba and Washinosa had fighting experience and training to spare. Shiba was using his whip with a lighting jutsu to electrify the whip and he was using the whip to constantly keep Hell Naruto on his toes. The Human realm granted Kimimaru's former body greater strength and stamina than Kimimaru had ever called upon. However, Human Naruto was still a teenager fighting against a fully grown man who had undergone laborious physical training all his life. Naruto knew that he needed help and he needed it soon.

* * *

Team 8 and Team 9 raced through the forest as fast as they could. The teams had been returning from a dual mission, since neither Kurenai nor Gai wanted to take their teams out alone without Shino or Neji, when they received a messenger falcon from Konoha ordering their immediate redirection to help out Team 7. A small part of the reinforcements' minds were wondering what it was with Team 7 and their missions growing out of proportions. However, the six ninjas were mainly focused on getting to the village in time.

Hinata had her Byakugan on and she called out, "There are a large number of bandits fighting against some villagers and a ninja. A few hundred feet to the north there is a second battle between several ninjas. There is also a man on horseback near the skirmishing ninjas." Hinata's normal nervousness was gone as the seriousness of the situation forced her to focus on scouting the field.

Gai and Kurenai quickly glanced at each other before Kurenai called out, "Teams 8 and 9 are going to go help out against the bandits. Gui and I are going to help against the enemy ninjas. Whatever you do, do not try to help us. Those ninjas that our comrades are fighting are likely members of the Seven Spears of Aizu and they are out of your league. This is where we split up and good luck to you all."

The jonins quickly broke off from their students and headed north. Both of them could do the math and figured that Kakashi and one of his students had to be going against the Spears. Needless to say, Gai and Kurenai were shocked when they saw that it was just Naruto going against the Spears. Luckily, they were able to keep their heads and not waste the element of surprise. Gai leaped into a Dynamic Entry against Shiba, while Kurenai cast one of her most powerful genjutsus on Washinosa.

Naruto was almost as surprised as the Spears by the sudden reinforcement. Luckily, those two seconds that he recovered in were more than enough to turn the tide of the battle. Human Naruto stabbed Washinosa in the arm via a bone dagger protruding from his wrist. At the same time, Hell Naruto pulled out two senbon needles and blinded Shiba with them. Then Naruto used his realms to permanently take care of those two Spears. He had his Hell Realm extend the senbon needles with ice until the pierced Shiba's brain. At the same time, Naruto had his Human realm grab Washinosa's head and rip the man's soul out.

As the bodies fell before him, Hell Naruto turned to Gai and said, "Thank you for your help and the help of your companion. I didn't think that I could last much longer against those two without your assistance."

Gai nodded his head and said, "You're welcome young Naruto. Where is Kakashi? It is most unyouthful of him to leave such foes up to a genin; even if the genin is as talented as you are."

Hell Naruto quickly replied, "We didn't know where these guys would attack or how many they would bring. Kakashi and my realms were assigned the perimeter. He hasn't engaged because we have no idea if is a second wave or not. Wait a second; Hinata just reported that there is no second wave. Kakashi is being told that he can move in to help finish off the bandits."

By this point, Katou knew that it was impossible for him to win. He quickly turned his horse around and retreated at full gallop. Human Naruto would have taken off in pursuit; however, Oaidouji was standing in between the Leaf ninjas and his lord. The old ninja looked at both of Naruto's realms and said, "You've won this day, Naruto the Bandit Slayer. However, know that a blood feud now exists between you and the Spears. From this day forth, every ninja who becomes part of the Seven Spears will be honor bound to hunt you down and kill you. Your family will never be able to sleep soundly in the night." Oaidouji pulled out a smoke ball and threw it to the ground. When the smoke cleared he was not in sight anywhere.


	5. Chapter 5

Teams 7, 8, and 9 were all sitting at a campfire on their way back to Konoha. Well, the genin were sitting around the campfire having dinner as their jonin senseis were patrolling the edge of the camp. Kiba finished wolfing down his meal and said, "So, Bandit Slayer eh? Man that is so cool Naruto! Most ninjas don't receive a title until they're jonins. I don't think that there has ever been a genin with a title before."

Tenten quickly rolled her eyes and said, "Grow a brain Kiba. Receiving a title isn't a good thing; it means that people know you're out there. Naruto's going to have his face posted in the bingo books! In case it has slipped your attention that means that other ninjas are going to want to take Naruto out and every bit of information other villages can gather on him will be publicized for practically anyone to read." Tenten had gotten to know Naruto a bit after the battle and thought he was an okay guy. Sure he was a little odd at times, but he was a lot more normal than the people she was used to working with. She didn't want him taken out by a ninja because he now had a title.

Hinata meekly spoke up, "Tenten is right in this instance Kiba. N-naruto will have to watch himself now that h-he's got an official title. This is a very serious matter." Hinata was extremely worried about Naruto and didn't want to see him hurt because of name hunter ninjas. These were ninjas who specialized in taking out big named ninjas. Naruto would almost certainly attract a few once word got out that he possessed the Rinnegan. It still amazed Hinata that Naruto possessed such a legendary bloodline, but she did miss his old blue eyes.

Lee quickly replied in his exuberant manner, "Still, it is very youthful that Naruto has acquired a title! We should all double our efforts and acquire titles of our own. If I have not acquired a title by this time next year, I shall walk from Konoha to Iwa on my hands!"

This little discussion came to an abrupt halt when Naruto got up and started walking away from the campsite. No one knew what to make of Naruto's sudden leaving and the other genin just stared at Naruto's spot in surprise. After a few seconds, Sakura place her dinner down on the ground and said, "Wait here. I'll go see what's bothering him." She then got up and left in the same direction that Naruto had gone leaving everyone else alone and wondering what they had done.

Sakura found Naruto a little ways away from the camp sitting on a tree stump with a stormy expression on his face. This immediately put Sakura on her guard since Naruto was normally cheerful. She slowly approached her teammate and said, "What's wrong Naruto?"

Naruto turned around to face Sakura and his eyes showed a great deal of sorrow. He seemed almost helpless as he said, "I can't take their chatting over my title Sakura. They weren't in the thick of the battle having to kill all of those bandits. They didn't watch the villagers' fear of death and know that you were the only thing keeping them from despair. They didn't see themselves killing dozens of men out of their own eyes. They can't understand what it's like. Hell, no one can understand what its like."

That honest confession hit Sakura in the gut. What was she supposed to say? What could she say? While Naruto had been on the front lines, she had been safe inside the center of the village. Sure, the villagers inside the meeting hall had been frightened. But, they weren't going through the terror of the front lines. During the entire battle, Sakura had never seen a single enemy and had simply been responsible for keeping the village women and children from fleeing in panic. That was an incredibly tame job compared to what Naruto or Kakashi had to do. Very quietly, Sakura said, "I know I can't understand what you're going through and I never will. But Naruto, I also know that it's not right for you to be in this mood. I'm your teammate and teammates help each other. Talk to me and try to make me understand; it might help you out."

A small smile formed on Naruto's face for few seconds as he said, "Alright Sakura, I'll talk." Naruto then got more serious and he said, "It's difficult to describe. When you kill someone up close you can see the look of horror and death in their eyes. That's hard for anyone to cope with. I have Haku and Kimimaro's memories of their kills and the difficulty they had coping with killing other people. However, I don't just see the look in my opponent's eyes when I kill someone when my realms are out. I also see how they die and what I'm doing when they die all at the same time."

"It's difficult for me to relate to others Sakura, especially my peers and I'm not saying that because I'm an orphan. Through Haku and Kimimaro, I have witnessed my father try to kill me, been locked up in a cave, sat as a beggar in the snow starving, and silently sat by as dozens were medically tortured because my 'savior' was the one doing the torturing. Within me lies the pain and suffering of three children whose only fault in life was to be something that society didn't like and wanted to keep out of the way. Tell me! How do I relate to anyone when I have that kind of an experience?"

By this point, Naruto had broken down and crying his eyes out. Sakura, not knowing anything better to do, simply pulled him in a hug and let him cry on her shoulder. It was quite amazing really. If anyone had told Sakura back when Team 7 was first formed that she would have been comforting Naruto in such a manner she would considered that person to be a lunatic. And yet, here she was trying to help him deal with a mental attack brought on by some careless comments and his memory of memories that weren't his.

After several minutes, Sakura felt Naruto's crying wind down and then stop. Naruto then pulled back from Sakura and said in a sheepish manner, "Sorry about getting your shirt wet Sakura." He then gave his teammate a false smile, which she promptly saw through.

Sakura shook her head and replied, "Look Naruto. Things haven't been stellar for you in the past and you don't have to pretend that everything is alright when things aren't alright. If you want to pretend around others that's your right. However, I don't want you to pretend around me."

Naruto's face, joyful smile was quickly replaced with a much more subdued smile and he replied, "Alright Sakura. For you, I won't hide." Naruto was surprised, but talking to Sakura had helped out a lot for him. It somehow let the more painful memories he had acquired fade into the back of his mind without any emotional attachment. He could still remember the events, but it was now like reading about some ancient battle that had little connection to a person's life.

* * *

"Alright, I know I didn't meditate before going to bed. So, why am I back in the Bardo?" Naruto looked around at the misty cavern that housed Haku and Kimimaro's souls. Very quickly, Naruto decided to try and get some answers as to why he was here. He called out, "Haku! Kimimaro! Where are you guys?"

Both boys quickly emerged from the mist of the cavern. Haku gave Naruto a sorrowful look and said, "Good evening Naruto. Sorry about calling you here instead of letting you dream, but Kimimaro and I needed to talk with you. It's about the emotions that you experienced earlier today."

Kimimaro quickly took over for Haku. "The Rinnegan has a side effect that you weren't aware of. It is known as the Transmigration Eye for a reason. You gain our memories and bodies when you gain a realm, but you also gain our emotions. No human can bare the emotions of many people indefinitely. You just experienced a 'blow off' of excess emotions. These 'blow offs' occur when you experience extremely intense emotions of one kind or another. The effects of these 'blow offs' will lessen when you gone through previous 'blow offs' of the same emotions since we only have a finite amount of emotions from before we joined with you."

Haku then cut in and continued the lecture. "You will gain more emotions to go through this process when you add new realms. This is an unfortunate side effect that you need to be aware of. Also, you need to find someone or a group of people that you can bond with. During these episodes, the people that you have deep bonds with will help to pull you through. That's not to say that you couldn't pull through on your own because you can. The Wheel of Creation allows its bearer to pull through these bouts by themselves while the Wheel of Destruction does not. However, your bonds with your precious people speed up the process. Your attachment to Sakura is what allowed you to pull through the previous bout so quickly."

Naruto nodded his head and said, "I think I understand what you guys are saying. I'm going to have severe bouts of emo-ness because I've got all these emotions stuffed in my head."

Kimimaro rolled his eyes and stated in a deadpan tone, "You're experience the whole spectrum of emotions Naruto. That means that you'll have extreme bouts of happiness, joy, sorrow, anger, lust, etc. Each bout will cause you to experience a concentrated portion of the realms' combined emotions."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and sheepishly replied, "It's not just emo-ness I get it. Honestly, I understand." Naruto then leaned his head to the right and asked, "Uh guys? Why do I not seem to remember your memories when I'm in the Bardo?"

Haku smiled and relied, "That's very simple Naruto. In the Bardo you can't remember what we experienced. It's a way for you to sort out your thoughts without being overwhelmed by our experiences. Remember, this is a place a solitude for you from your regular life just as it is a place of contentment for us while you live."

* * *

Sakura was, although she didn't realize it at the moment, in the middle of a nightmare. In her nightmare, she was standing in the middle of a battlefield looking at the remains of a very massive and bloody battle. All around her were the decaying bodies of dead soldiers. Slowly, Sakura picked up her nerves and hesitantly approached one of the corpses. She then reached down and removed the helmet of a nearby soldier. Immediately Sakura wished she hadn't done that and leaped back in terror. There was her face staring back at her on the dead soldier.

The helmets that the other soldiers were wearing suddenly disintegrated and Sakura saw her face on every soldier. This grizzly sight caused Sakura to trip and fall on the ground. She then whispered out in terror, "W-what's going on here? Why is this happening?" Suddenly, the bodies began moving and tried to grab Sakura. She naturally tried to get away, but the moving corpses surrounded her and closed in. Sakura then desperately screamed out, "Help! Somebody help me please!"

There was a rumbling in the sky and two titanic figures suddenly appeared through the clouds. Sakura couldn't see who these figures were; their faces and bodies were shrouded in shadows. The only distinguishing features of these figures were their eyes. The one of the left had blood red eyes while the one on the right had cloudy grey eyes. Both figures stretched out a hand towards Sakura and a voice boomed over Sakura, "CHOOSE!"

By this point Sakura was literally over her head as she was being buried by the soldiers. The soldiers were all muttering about in a raspy manner that a decision must be made. Sakura couldn't even see the figures that were offering her salvation from this terror because of the soldiers. Reacting on instinct, Sakura reached up, blindly grasped a shadowy hand, and prayed that she would be saved from this hell.

Suddenly, Sakura found herself being pulled up and away from the hoard of soldiers piling onto her. She was carried higher and ever higher above the battlefield. Nervously, Sakura looked over her shoulder at the battlefield below. To her surprise, the battlefield looked like a giant, bloody heart. Sakura then felt herself be embraced by a pair of strong arms. She slowly turned around and saw-

Sakura was suddenly forced away by Tenten's shaking. The pink haired girl looked up at her temporary tent mate Tenten had a cheerful smile on and quietly said, "Come on Sakura its time to get up. If you don't get up now, you'll have to wait until we break for the night to get in a bath!" That quickly got up Sakura making her forget about her dream and any wondering about what it could mean.

* * *

Sasuke looked at his two temporary teammates. If he was honest with himself, he preferred the company of Naruto and even Sakura over these two guys. Still, these two had been acceptable and had helped him passed the first two tests in the exam. The 'last' Uchiha quietly stood in the background waiting for the Raikage to come in and announce what the next exam would be.

After a few moments, Kumo's leader arrived and started to speak. "Congratulations each and every one of you on passing the first two tests of the exams. In fact, more of you passed than we were expecting or are allowed to have for the final test of the exam. Therefore, we will have to undergo a preliminary round to thin you out. Be aware that there is a good chance of death in this next exam. If you feel that you are not ready or in a condition to take such risks, leave now. Do not worry about your teammates, because now the exam is every ninja on their own."

Naturally, Sasuke refuse to back down. He hadn't made it this far just to give up on his own. Finally, the Raikage nodded his head and said, "Very good. For those of you brave enough to remain I shall explain how the preliminaries work. Behind me on the other side of the area are three doors. One at a time, you all will be randomly called up to pick a door. Behind one door will be a Jonin ready to fight you, another will have a trap that can kill you, and there is nothing waiting behind the third door. The hallways of these doors quickly rejoin where there is a table and a list set up. Your goal is to get past the challenges of the doors and sign your names on that list. Do not rely on what others before you have chosen because the doors will be reset and changed every time someone comes up to choose. The unknown is a constant companion to a ninja; this test shows that fact."

Sasuke waited impatiently until he was called to make his choice. He then walked onto the arena, crossed over where the doors were located, and confidently opened the center door. Immediately, the avenger's danger sense started screaming at him as the door revealed a beautiful blonde kunoichi. The Kumo kunoichi gave Sasuke a predatory grin and quickly leaped to attack Sasuke. Reacting on instinct, the young Uchiha ducked, rolled to the side, and quickly started running for the center of the arena so he could have more room to operate.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, his opponent didn't give him the chance to think of a plan. Instead, she kept him on his toes just barely one hairs breath away from being hit by her attacks. Sasuke thought he knew what fighting a Jonin was like after witnessing Kakashi and Zabuza go at it, but this was unreal! She just kept going from one lighting fast attack to another. What made it all the more enraging and terrifying for Sasuke was the fact that she was using some unknown fire jutsu to create fiery claws over her hands. This was terrifying to Sasuke because he couldn't copy it with his Sharingan. Sasuke's voice contained a hint of fear as he called out, "Who are you?"

Yugito Ni smirked as she saw the Uchiha that many from Konoha were pinning their hopes on start to buckle from her killing intent. The boy had the worst luck to open the door when it was her turn to be the opposing Jonin. She gave Sasuke a predatory grin, upped the amount of killing intent she was sending, and said, "I am Yugito Ni, Kumo's second strongest ninja. End all hopes of becoming a Chunin and pray for your survival." With that said, Yugito quickly proceeded to maul Sasuke until he was a bloody mess on the area. However, she had been careful to make sure that none of her attacks killed the boy so that Konoha couldn't claim she was trying to assassinate the last Uchiha.

* * *

Team 7 was in the middle of some basic training when Sarutobi walked into the field. Immediately, Team 7 stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the Hokage. All three of Naruto's realms called out, "Hey Old Man! Why are you here?"

Sarutobi cracked a small smile at hearing Naruto's name for him and then got serious. He turned to face the three members of Team 7, looked into all five pairs of eyes, and then started to speak. "I have some bad news to tell you all and you deserve to hear about it first from me. A messenger bird recently arrived from Kumo. Sasuke Uchiha was badly injured during the preliminary round for the final test in the exam. He's going to live and he's going to be able to continue as a ninja. However, your teammate will be in the hospital for several weeks and will be returned to Konoha when the exams are over so that he can recover here. Right now, he's judged to be in too serious a condition to make the trip back from Kumo. Also, Sasuke has lost his right eye."

The reactions of the members of Team 7 were quick and quiet pronounced. Kakashi bowed his head in shame as if he was directly responsible for this. Sakura hugged herself and started crying. Naruto's reaction was the most interesting and the most varied reaction of the group. Deva Naruto quickly grabbed Sakura in a comforting hug since Naruto figured it would help her out. Human Naruto created a set of bone swords and tightly gripped them as if he was about to attack something or someone. Finally, Hell Naruto got right up in Sarutobi's face and almost shouted out, "How the hell did this happen to Sasuke Old Man?! I may not like the jerk, but there is no way that Sasuke would just end up in that kind of condition."

Sarutobi gave Naruto's Hell Realm a sharp glare and firmly stated, "Control yourself Naruto! Many things happen in life that we don't have any control over as you well know. This is one of those times. Sasuke had the misfortune to pick to fight a Jonin and had the double misfortune to face off against the strongest Jonin Kumo had allowed as an eliminator. These things happen and there is nothing we can do. All that you, all that any of you, can do now is train. When Sasuke gets back you can help him in his physical therapy and help him return to active duty if he so chooses. If Sasuke decides to leave the Shinobi life you can be there to help him recover as a friend."

The old Hokage watched as a storm of emotions crossed Hell Naruto's face. Unknown to Sarutobi, the news about what had happened to Sasuke had caused Naruto to go through another emotional blow off. Suddenly, Human Naruto leaped at a nearby tree and started to shred it with his bone swords. The others watched as Naruto turned the tree into toothpicks. Once this was done Human Naruto returned to the Bardo. Deva Naruto slowly said, "I understand Old Man. Thanks for telling us about Sasuke. Don't worry; we'll help Sasuke out any way we can."

Sarutobi nodded his head and replied, "I know you will Naruto. I know that all three of you will help out Sasuke and I would expect nothing less from my ninjas. In the end of the day, all we have to help ourselves is each other."

Kakashi nodded his head solemnly stating, "Those who abandon their comrades are lower than trash. I'm proud to say sir that no one on my team is lower than trash. Thank you for informing us sir. I know how busy your schedule is."

Sarutobi nodded and said, "Quiet right Kakashi, quiet right. Sadly I can't spend more time with you all to help you sort out any issues you might have. My paperwork breeds like rabbits and if I'm not back in the office in fifteen minutes the stacks will be over my head." With that slightly humorous note, the Sandaime left the training field.

Kakashi quickly turned around to face Sakura and Naruto. He then said in a very serious manner, "Team, take the rest of the day off. You've just heard some very painful news and I don't want you within fifty feet of a training ground for the rest of the day. Neither of you is mentally ready to train any further. Naruto, I don't want to hear anything out of you about Haku or Kimimaro training after hearing bad news or about you wanting to vent your frustrations like you just did. A ninja needs to have a calm mind when training so that he or she doesn't get carried away. Haku or Kimimaro might have had that discipline, but you don't have it all the time." He then turned around and started walking away.

Sakura looked up at Kakashi and asked, "Sir? Where are you going?"

Kakashi stopped, turned around, and said, "I'm going to check on the shrinks at the hospital. Taking that kind of damage and then going through a long recovery can mess with your head. I want to scout out who will be seeing Sasuke. Also, I want to check on eye transplant options for Sasuke."

Sakura nodded her head at this and Naruto remained silent as Kakshi walked away. It was then that Sakura noticed that Naruto was hugging her. Instead of jumping away, Sakura actually snuggled up against Naruto. His presence was comforting to her and she secretly enjoyed the close feeling she was getting. A very small part of Sakura wondered why she was enjoying the closeness to Naruto. However, that small part of her didn't reach her conscious mind.

Hell Naruto walked up Sakura and said, "Hey Sakura, want to go to Ichikaru's? They've got this great blend of ramen that can pick up even the most depressed people. Trust me; it's really good at picking you up."

Sakura nodded her head and said, "Alright Naruto. Let's go to Ichikaru's. But know this, you're paying." Hell Naruto quickly retuned to the Bardo and Naruto smiled. Okay, it wasn't exactly a date. But, it was a step in the right direction. Besides, it got Sakura's mind off of being depressed about what happened to Sasuke.

* * *

It was the dead of the night in the Kumo General Hospital and only a few late night nurses and overnight patients were in the hospital. Very stealth fully, a shadowy figure moved through the hospital corridors to a single patient room. There was a ninja wearing a Konoha headband standing next to the door on guard. The shadowy figure frowned for a second from the shadows and considered what to do. Carefully, the figure slowly cast a genjutsu on the guard. This was done over the course of several minutes to make sure that the guard would remain under the genjutsu's effects. Once the guard was under, the shadowy figure went to the door, picked the lock, crept inside the room, and closed the door.

Yugito removed her mask once the door was closed and scowled. Damn her restraint earlier in the match and damn the Raikage! Having Sasuke Uchiha inside the hospital under minimal guard by Konoha was just far too tempting for Kumo's leader. The Sharingan was tantalizingly within Kumo's grasp and the Raikage refused to let it slip through the cracks. A golden opportunity like this would likely never come again.

Ever so slowly, Yugito forced down her revulsion, reached for the hem of her pants, and pulled them down. Her panties quickly followed leaving her lower half exposed. Konoha, as was their right, had demanded that all samples taken from Sasuke by Kumo's doctors be turned over to them for proper disposal. Kumo had acquiesced to Konoha's request after a show of resistance to allay any suspicions. Blood samples were meaningless compared to having an Uchiha of their own. Yugito had been given the 'honor' of mothering Kumo's future Sharingan wielders since she was the strongest kunoichi and the Raikage wanted the best possible offspring.

Damn it all, the boy was only thirteen years old! Yugito had never felt more dirty or revolting than she felt right now. She wanted nothing more than to put her clothes back on, leave the hospital, and get as far away from the boy as she could. However, Yugito's sense of duty and self-preservation, the Raikage had been very descriptive about what would happen if she failed; forced her to bed the unconscious Uchiha.

Once Sasuke's seed was in her womb, Yugito leaped out of the bed like it was on fire. She quickly put her clothes on and made sure to remove all evidence of her presence in the hospital room. Before she left, Yugito turned around to look at Sasuke and whispered, "I doubt you'll ever forgive me for this boy, I sure as hell know I won't forgive myself. However, I promise that our child won't have put up with this kind of shit if I can help it." With that said, Yugito left the hospital carrying the unknown heir of the Uchiha Clan.


End file.
